In just the same way that a core soil sample is taken of the Earth and archived for later analysis, how could the scientific community make use of 'test tube' atmospheric samples that are taken at altitude and physically returned to Earth.

Would this be a viable support to current methods of remote sensing from the ground or satellite?

Would this provide a valid archive of our upper atmosphere for historical analysis of ozone, volcanic ash, bacteria etc;

Sample returns and in situ measurements have played and will continue to play an important role in studying the atmosphere. If nothing else, they serve as a means for calibrating remote sensing experiments.

 

Ozone is a good example of this. Sounding rockets that directly measured ozone concentration played a key role in making sense of the remotely sensed readings. Remote sensing provides an indirect measurement of the total ozone concentration. Those satellite and ground measurements are not measuring ozone per se. They are measuring something else such as backscatter ultraviolet light. Truth measurements are needed to transform those indirect measurements into ozone concentration. Those truth values come from rocket sondes and balloon sondes that make in situ measurements of ozone concentration.

 

There's a difference between sample returns and in situ measurements. There isn't much value to sample returns for measuring ozone concentration. It's just too spotty. In situ measurements are quite valuable. Sample returns are useful for measuring things that are hard to measure via small, simple instruments. You can't put a big device onto a balloon or a small rocket.