Sample Analysis at Mars

The SAM instrument suite analyzed organics and gases from both atmospheric and solid samples.

[1][2] It was developed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Laboratoire des Atmosphères Milieux Observations Spatiales (LATMOS) associated to the Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA) (jointly operated by France's Centre national de la recherche scientifique and Parisian universities), and Honeybee Robotics, along with many additional external partners.

[1] The SMS then moves the sample to the SAM oven to release gases by heating to up to 1000 °C;[1][8] and the pump subsystem to purge the separators and analysers.

The Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan built the main power supply, command and data handling unit, valve and heater controller, filament/bias controller, and high voltage module.

The uncooled infrared detectors were developed and provided by the Polish company VIGO Photonics.