Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide Sterilization System

NASA mission planners continue to develop plans for investigating celestial bodies including Europa, Enceladus, and Mars for potential life detection. Contamination Control and Planetary Protection requirements focus on both forward and backward contamination from such bodies where NASA has shown that vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) is an effective method for sterilizing samples and surfaces. However, there are a number of pressing issues NASA mission planners have identified using VHP that include:nbsp;Delivering VHP to the sterilization chamberMitigating variability in the peroxide concentration within the sterilization chamberEvacuating VHP from the sterilization chamber once sterilization is completeEnsuring samples have been thoroughly and uniformly sterilized culminating in dry samples that can subsequently be stored for long term transportMinimizing expendable losses of oxygen, water, and VHPMinimizing energy, mass, and volume of sterilization components