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Abstract EANA2025-142


The Relevance of Landers and in-situ Measurements for Astrobiological Investigations during Small Bodies Missions

Stephan Ulamec (1), Christian Krause (1), Jens Biele (1), Tra-Mi. Ho (2) and Jean-Pierre deVera (1)
(1) DLR, Space Operations and Astronaut Training, MUSC, Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne, Germany (2) DLR, Inst. of Space Systems, Robert-Hooke-Str. 7, 28359 Bremen, Germany


Small bodies in our Solar System, asteroids and comets, may have played a significant role for the formation of life on Earth. These bodes contain a rich reservoir of organic material including pre-biotic molecules.  Besides of analysis of meteorites, returned samples from asteroids or remote observations, in-situ measurements play an essential role in our understanding of the chemistry of these bodies.  The Rosetta Lander Philae has been carrying two evolved gas analyzers, COSAC and Ptolemy, detecting rich organic chemistry at the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and MASCOT, as part of the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission had the capability to analyze in-situ material on the surface of asteroid Ryugu.   Such measurements complement those obtained from orbit and also laboratory analyses of samples that have potentially undergone alterations during the sampling process, handling and return to Earth.   In-situ measurements also give a ground truth for remote observations.

The paper will, in addition to giving a retrospect of past missions, provide an outlook to future investigations, like those with the MMX rover IDEFIX, or, more general, the potential of landers on small bodies, in the light of astrobiological research.