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GeoLab is a prototype geological laboratory designed for deployment and testing during NASA’s analog demonstrations. Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) built GeoLab as part of a technology project to support the development of science operational concepts for future planetary surface missions. It was integrated into NASA’s Habitat Demonstration Unit 1 - Pressurized Excursion Module (HDU1-PEM), a first generation exploration habitat test bed.

As a test bed, GeoLab provides a high fidelity working space for crewmembers to perform preliminary examination and characterization of geologic samples. The GeoLab concept builds from the hardware and cleanroom protocols used in JSC’s Astromaterials Sample Curation laboratories. The main hardware component of the GeoLab is a custom-built glovebox, constructed from stainless steel and polycarbonate, and built to provide a positive pressure nitrogen environment. The glovebox is mounted onto the habitat’s structural ribs; the unique shape (trapezoidal prism) fits within a pie-shaped section of the cylindrical habitat. A key innovation of GeoLab is the mechanism for transferring samples into the glovebox: three antechambers (airlocks) that pass through the shell of the habitat. These antechambers allow geologic samples to enter and exit the main glovebox chamber directly from (and to) the outside, thereby controlling contamination from inside the habitat. The glovebox is configured to include imaging systems, instrumentation, and computer controls. The first field trials tested a simple configuration including a microscope, a commercially available handheld X-ray Fluorescence instrument, network cameras, and simple sample handling tools inside the glovebox.

We present results from the initial field trials of GeoLab during the 2010 Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) planetary analog test near Flagstaff, AZ. These field tests examined the general operations of the GeoLab hardware and the crew interfaces for operating the laboratory. GeoLab operations also resulted in the preliminary examination of selected samples for Desert RATS science team decisions regarding prioritization of samples. Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of IAA.