…from the field and other fun times
Contents: Azores Field Trip | Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis | Building the Lab | Our Visitors
Azores Sample Collection Trip – May/June 2023
Supported by NSF Award 2145663 to Rita Parai (CAREER: Heavy Noble Gases in the Azores Archipelago)
SLIDESHOW:
The group hunting for good rocks on the shore near Ponta Delgada 
Mason, Sam and Vittorio surveying the flow on the shore of Terceira 
Rain can’t stop Sam and Vanessa from logging samples 
Sam and Kelsey collecting some tephra samples on São Miguel 
Mason collecting tephra samples on São Miguel 
Mason inspecting the lava flow 
Always with the cows — Rita in Nordeste, São Miguel 
Sampling in a quarry on São Miguel 
The group sampling in Povoação, São Miguel 
Great cow 
Terceira, with a view of Ilhéus das Cabras 
The group describing the lava flow and collecting at the shore on Terceira 
Collecting tephra on Pico 
Collecting tephra on Pico 
Sam collecting from an outcrop on Pico 
It rained but then we were rewarded for perserverance — Sam and Vanessa at the outcrop on Pico 
Sam and Kelsey finding the best of a megacryst-rich outcrop on Pico 
Kelsey with a megacryst-rich rock on Pico 
Rita with a megacryst-rich rock on Pico 
They’re good rocks, guys. Mason and Sam searching for the best outcrop — Pico 
There were just loose olivines on the ground — Sam on Pico 
An outcrop overgrown with wild mint…we call it Mojito Rock — São Jorge 
Sam seeking out good sample materials on São Jorge 
Great samples lie at the end of the rainbow
Photo credits: Sam Patzkowsky, Kelsey Woody, Mason Neuman, Vanessa Soares, and Rita Parai
Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis 73001 piercing and analysis
Johnson Space Center – Houston, Feb/March 2022
Standing with the ANGSA gas extraction manifold and sample cylinders installed at Johnson Space Center 
The ANGSA gas manifold and team from WUSTL: (front row, from left): Patrizia Will, Rita Parai and Julian Rodriguez; (back row) Alex Meshik, Dennis Huelsman, Kenny Schmidt, Olga Pravdivtseva and Brad Jolliff (photo: Richard Schmaeng) 
Sample cylinders and the gas manifold 
Juliane Gross and Olga Pravdivtseva attaching the outer vacuum container to the gas manifold (photo: Alex Meshik) 
Ryan Zeigler slowly, carefully opening a valve 
Juliane Gross and Rita Parai checking some figures 
Francesca McDonald and Juliane Gross preparing to pierce the 73001 core sample vacuum container 
Ryan Zeigler, Rita Parai and colleagues extracting gas from the Apollo 73001 lunar sample (photo: James Blair, NASA) 
We were pleased with how the piercing went! 
Juliane Gross, Rita Parai, Andrea Mosie 
Our group performing preliminary analyses of gas extracted from a sealed Apollo 17 lunar sample (from left: Julian Rodriguez, Sam Patzkowsky, Nhia Solari and Kelsey Woody)
Building the Noble Gas Lab
Constructing the gas extraction and purification line from scratch took a lot of effort! Here are snapshots of how it came together.
Let’s build some stuff 
It didn’t start out looking like a meaningful support structure, but stick to the design… 
Building out our unconventional “table” 
Slight misalignments add up, so we had to get inside the structure and get everything aligned just right 
Adding machined custom table-tops 
Gotta make sure the tabletops are level 
Laying out the central line of valves on their support stands 
Compact geometry demands tiny little wrenches 
Months of careful calculation to get this geometry to work out 
I saved the best/hardest for last…the last component we added was the quadrupole residual gas analyzer, installed with very poor line of sight to the flange 
It might not seem like much of a photo, but this felt momentous — finally connecting the gas line to the mass spectrometer in Nov 2019 
Gas line with one standank to start off, as we prepared our main gas standards 
Ion pump so shiny you can see yourself in it. Preparing the space under the table for standard tanks 
Two standard tanks, ready for installation 
Julian and Nhia with the standard tank assembly 
Standard tank assembly, installed 
Sam and Xinmu starting the crusher table valve assembly 
Julian and Nhia working on the crusher table valve assembly 
The crusher table valve assembly, inverted and ready to mount 
The crusher table valve assembly, mounted! 
Hooking up the turbo pumps and pumpout manifold underneath the crusher table. Love it when the design works out in real life 
Gas line with standard assembly and four-port crusher table 
Julian with the crusher table, gas purification and mass spec 
Any now for everyone’s favorite: cable management 
There are a lot of instrument input/output considerations 
And we imposed order on the cable trays 
Attempts to make cable trays orderly 
Scroll pump tip seal maintenance
Visitors at WUSTL
