Experimental investigation of the atmosphere‐regolith water cycle on present‐day mars

Funding: The Kempe Foundation (SMK-1934) funded the design and fabrication of the SpaceQ chamber. M.-P.Z. has been partially funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-104205GB-C21). A.V.R. and J.M.-T. acknowledge support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW 2016.0346). Acknowledgments: We acknowledge the support from the Kurt J. Lesker Company on its construction. We thank Roberto Mantas Nakhai and Juan Antonio Ramírez Luque for their help in the data processing.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

PACKMAN – A portable instrument to investigate space weather

Acknowledgements The authors of the paper would like to acknowledge the Dark Matter Research facility, Boulby Mine, UK Center for Astrobiology, Zero2Infinity, Esrange and the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) for their support to this collaborative initiative. The results presented in this paper have been compared with data collected at magnetic observatories. We thank the British Geological Survey for the open-access data from the magnetic observatories and GFZ Postdam for the Kp index data. The authors of the paper would also like to thank Miracle Israel Nazarious for his help with graphs. MPZ has been partially funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia ‘‘María de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-104205GB-C21)Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Calibration and preliminary tests of the Brine Observation Transition To Liquid Experiment on HABIT/ExoMars 2020 for demonstration of liquid water stability on Mars

The authors thank Alvaro Soria-Salinas and Thasshwin Mathanlal for assisting with and monitoring the outdoor operation demonstration. The HABIT Engineering Model was fabricated by Omnisys, Sweden, as part of the HABIT project evelopment and funded by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). We would like to thank the Kempe foundation for its generous funding support. This project also received a seed funding from the Dubai Future Foundation through Guaana.com open research platform (https://www.guaana.com/projects/jeGEimuX6DLCLsbQP).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Brine-Induced Tribocorrosion Accelerates Wear on Stainless Steel : Implications for Mars Exploration

Acknowledgments The authors thank the ExoMars Project Team, European Space Agency (ESA), for reviewing the manuscript. The SpaceQ chamber has been developed in collaboration with Kurt J. Lesker Company and was funded by the Kempe Foundation. MPZ’s contribution has been partially supported by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI), Project No. MDM-2017-0737, Unidad de Excelencia “Maria de Maeztu”–Centro de Astrobiologia (CSIC-INTA).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Measuring Electrical Conductivity to Study the Formation of Brines Under Martian Conditions

Acknowledgments The HABIT Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) that was used for the experiments was fabricated by Omnisys, Sweden, as part of the HABIT project development, under the supervision of MPZ and JMT, and funded by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). HABIT and BOTTLE are the original ideas of MPZ and JMT. SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber is a Luleå University of Technology facility situated in Luleå, Sweden. The Kempe Foundation funded the design and fabrication of the SpaceQ chamber. The SpaceQ chamber was manufactured by Kurt J. Lesker Company, U.K., under the supervision of MPZ. MPZ has been partially funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-104205GB-C21). AVR and JMT acknowledge support from the Wallenberg Foundation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Subsurface robotic exploration for geomorphology, astrobiology and mining during MINAR6 campaign, Boulby Mine, UK: : part II (Results and Discussion)

Acknowledgement. The authors of this paper would like to thank Kempe Foundation for its generous funding support to develop KORE, the workshop at the Teknikens Hus, Luleå, for their invaluable and unconditional support in helping with the fabrication of the KORE components and the organizers of the MINAR campaign comprising the UK Centre of Astrobiology, ICL Boulby Mine and STFC Boulby Underground Laboratory, UK. MPZ has been partially funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia ‘María de Maeztu’- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)Peer reviewedPostprin

SpaceQ chamber : The environment simulator for planetary exploration

EPSC Abstracts Vol. 13, EPSC-DPS2019-1584-1, 2019 EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Implementing bioburden reduction and control on the deliquescent hydrogel of the HABIT/ExoMars 2022 instrument

The HabitAbility: Brines, Irradiation and Temperature (HABIT) instrument will be part of the ExoMars 2022 mission (ESA/Roscosmos) and will be the first European In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) instrument capable of producing liquid water on Mars. HABIT is composed by two modules: Environmental Package (EnvPack) and Brine Observation Transition To Liquid Experiment (BOTTLE). EnvPack will help to study the current habitability conditions on Mars investigating the air and surface thermal ranges and Ultraviolet (UV) irradiance; and BOTTLE is a container with four independent vessels housing deliquescent salts, which are known to be present on Mars, where the liquid water will be produced after deliquescence. In order to prevent capillarity of deliquescent or hydrated salts, a mixture of deliquescent salts with Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) based on polyacrylamide is utilized. This mixture has deliquescent and hydrogel properties and can be reused by applying a thermal cycle, complying thus with the purpose of the instrument. A High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) grade filter made of polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) porous membrane sandwiched between spunbounded non-woven fabric stands as a physical barrier allowing interaction between the gaseous molecules of the Martian atmosphere and the salt mixtures, and at the same time preventing the passage of any potential biological contamination from the cells to the outside or vice-versa. In addition to the physical barrier, a strict bioburden reduction and analysis procedure is applied to the hardware and the contained salt mixtures adhering to the European Cooperation for Space Standardization protocol of microbial examination of flight hardware (ECSS-Q-ST-70-55C). The deliquescent salts and the SAP products need to be properly treated independently to adhere to the planetary protection protocols. In this manuscript, we describe the bioburden reduction process utilized to sterilize the salt mixtures in BOTTLE and the assays adopted to validate the sterilization. We also describe the construction of a low-cost, portable ISO 7 cleanroom tent, exclusively designed for planetary protection tests. The sterilization process involves Dry Heat Microbial Reduction (DHMR) of the deliquescent salts and the SAP mixtures. The performance of SAP after DHMR is validated to ensure its working efficiency after sterilization. A slightly modified version of the standard swab assay is used in the validation process and a comparison is made between samples exposed to a thermal shock treatment and those without thermal shock, to determine the best assay to be applied for future space hardware utilizing such salt mixtures for planetary investigation and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). The demonstration of the compatibility of these products with the processes commonly required for space applications has implications for the future exploration of Mars.The authors of the paper would like to thank the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, DLR , Germany for their support to analyse the bioburden assay of the HABIT BOTTLE salt mixtures. The authors would also like to acknowledge Roberto Mantas-Nakhai for his contribution during the bioburden assay validation. HABIT is an instrument of the Luleå University of Technology (LTU), led by J. Martín-Torres (PI) and M-P. Zorzano (co-PI). The HABIT FM and EQM were fabricated by Omnisys, Sweden, under advice of LTU as part of the HABIT project development and funded by the Swedish National Space Agency ( SNSA ). M-P. Z's contribution has been partially supported by the Spanish State Research Agency ( AEI ) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu” - Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC). We acknowledge the Luleå University of Technology, the Wallenberg Foundation and the Kempe Foundation for support of the Mars research activities. We thank the ExoMars project team, European Space Agency (ESA), Roscosmos, Space Research Institute (IKI) and Omnisys Instruments AB for their hard work on the ExoMars 2022 mission. We acknowledge the Luleå University of Technology, the Wallenberg Foundation and the Kempe Foundation for support of the Mars research activities. The SpaceQ chamber has been developed together with Kurt J. Lesker Company and was funded by the Kempe Foundation.Peer reviewe

Subsurface robotic exploration for geomorphology, astrobiology and mining during MINAR6 campaign, Boulby Mine, UK : part I (Rover development)

Acknowledgement. The authors of this paper would like to thank Kempe Foundation for its generous funding support to develop KORE, the workshop at the Teknikens Hus, Luleå, for their invaluable and unconditional support in helping with the fabrication of the Rover components and the organizers of the MINAR campaign comprising the UK Centre of Astrobiology, Dark Matter Research Facility and the Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL), UK.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The HABIT (HabitAbility: Brine Irradiation and Temperature) environmental instrument for the ExoMars 2022 Surface Platform

Acknowledgements HABIT is an instrument of the Luleå University of Technology (LTU), led by J. Martín-Torres (PI) and M-P. Zorzano (co-PI). The international list of Co-Is and collaborators of the science team of HABIT is given in (https://atmospheres.research.ltu.se/habit/pages/team.php). HABIT engineering team: A. Soria-Salinas, M. I. Nazarious, S. Konatham, T. Mathanlal and A. Vakkada Ramachandran. HABIT IT team: J. –A. Ramirez-Luque and R. Mantas-Nakhai. ASS acknowledges the support of the LTU Graduate School of Space. M-P. Z's contribution has been partially supported by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu” - Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC). The HABIT FM and EQM were fabricated by Omnisys Instruments AB, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, under advice of LTU as part of the HABIT project development and funded by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). We thank the ExoMars project team, European Space Agency (ESA), Roscosmos, Space Research Institute (IKI) and Omnisys Instruments AB for their hard work on the ExoMars mission. We thank Petra Rettberg and Carina Fink from DLR for their planetary protection analysis of HABIT samples. We acknowledge the Luleå University of Technology, the Wallenberg Foundation and the Kempe Foundation for support of the Mars research activities. We thank the support of the Swedish Institute for Space Physics (IRF) for the TVAC tests. The Oxia Planum environmental conditions research was partially funded by the European Research Foundation. The SpaceQ chamber has been developed together with Kurt J. Lesker Company and was funded by the Kempe Foundation. CRediT authorship contribution statement Javier Martín-Torres: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Funding acquisition, Resources, Project administration. María-Paz Zorzano: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Funding acquisition, Resources, Project administration. Álvaro Soria-Salinas: Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Miracle Israel Nazarious: Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Samuel Konatham: Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Thasshwin Mathanlal: Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Abhilash Vakkada Ramachandran: Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Juan-Antonio Ramírez-Luque: Software, Writing - review & editing. Roberto Mantas-Nakhai: Software, Writing - review & editing.Peer reviewedPostprin