page_title: Extraterrestrial sample curation
section_title: Non-restricted materials
hierarchical_section_title: Extraterrestrial sample curation / Non-restricted materials
caption_attribution_description: English: NASA's Stardust sample return capsule successfully landed at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range at 2:10 a.m. Pacific time (3:10 a.m. Mountain time). The capsule contains cometary and interstellar samples gathered by the Stardust spacecraft. Català: Vehicle de retorn de mostres de la sonda Stardust
context_page_description: The curation of extraterrestrial samples obtained by sample-return missions take place at facilities specially designed to preserve both the sample integrity and protect the Earth. Astromaterials are classified as either non-restricted or restricted, depending on the nature of the Solar System body. Non-restricted samples include the Moon, asteroids, comets, solar particles and space dust. Restricted bodies include planets or moons suspected to have either past or present habitable environments to microscopic life, and therefore must be treated as extremely biohazardous.
context_section_description: As of 2019, JAXA's Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center and NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate (ARES) are the only two BSL-3 laboratories in the world exclusively dedicated to the curation of samples from non-restricted bodies. The key feature of JAXA's curation facility is the ability to observe, take out a portion and preserve a precious return-sample without being exposed to the atmosphere and other contaminants.
  The Luna Soviet missions samples are studied and stored at the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
caption: Stardust's sample-return capsule after reentry to Earth
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