Mass spectrometric analysis of organic compounds, water and volatile constituents in the atmosphere and surface of Mars: The Viking Mars Lander

Anderson, Duwayne M.; Biemann, K.; Orgel, Leslie E.; Oró, J.; Owen, Tobias; Shulman, Garson P.; Toulmin, Priestley; Urey, Harold C.

doi:10.1016/0019-1035(72)90140-6

Cited by 91 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…it seems h i g h l y p r o b a b l e that the organic analysis e x p e r i m e n t on the 1976 V i k i n g M i s s i o n (Anderson et al, 1972) will detect n i t r o g e n o u s compounds such as urea and carbonyl derivatives of NH 3 in the m a r t i a n soil.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ultraviolet-gas phase and -photocatalytic synthesis from CO and NH3

et al. 1975

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The major photoproduct obtained on irradiation of gaseous NH3 and CO mixtures is ammonium cyanate; lesser amounts of urea, biurea, biuret semi-carbazide, formamide and cyanide were observed. The formation of the major gas phase photolysis product may be rationalized by the following reaction sequence: (see article). Urea is probably formed from NH4NCO in a thermal reaction while formamide may result from the disproportionation of NH2CO. Photocatalytic syntheses of 14C-urea, -formamide, and -formadehyde are effected by irradiation of 14CO and NH3 in the presence of Vycor, silica gel, or volcanic ash shale surfaces. These syntheses are catalyzed by ultraviolet wavelengths longer than those absorbed by the gaseous reactants. The syntheses are also effected when the surface material is first irradiated in the presence of CO followed by a dark incubation with NH3. Apparently, the initiating step is a light dependent formation of a reactive form of CO on the surface. A discussion is given on the possible contribution of these reactions to the abiotic synthesis of organic nitrogen compounds on Mars, on the primitive Earth and in interstellar space.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ultraviolet-gas phase and -photocatalytic synthesis from CO and NH3

et al. 1975

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“…Several previous and current flight instruments used the pyrolysis approach to extract volatiles from solid regolith (summarized in Table 2). The Viking landers each carried a gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) instrument equipped with three ovens capable of heating regolith samples at different temperatures up to SOO°C [20,21]. More recently, the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument on the Phoenix Mars lander heated polar regolith samples up to 9S0°C and analyzed the evolved gases using a mass spectrometer [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith for planetary resource exploration

Glavin

Malespin

Kate

et al. 2012

2012 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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The extraction and identification of volatile resources that could be utilized by humans including water, oxygen, noble gases, and hydrocarbons on the Moon, Mars, and small planetary bodies will be critical for future long-term human exploration of these objects. Vacuum pyrolysis at elevated temperatures has been shown to be an efficient way to release volatiles trapped inside solid samples. In order to maximize the extraction of volatiles, including oxygen and noble gases from the breakdown of minerals, a pyrolysis temperature of 1400°C or higher is required, which greatly exceeds the maximum temperatures of current state-of-the-art flight pyrolysis instruments. Here we report on the recent optimization and field testing results of a high temperature pyrolysis oven and sample manipulation system coupled to a mass spectrometer instrument called Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR). VAPoR is capable of heating solid samples under vacuum to temperatures above 1300°C and determining the composition of volatiles released as a function of temperature.

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“…Lipids have not been detected within sulfate minerals on Mars, possibly because of the low rate of conversion during pyrolysis. The chief method used during the mission was pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Bowden and Parnell, 2007) to detect the pyrolysis degradation products of organic compounds, be it of biotic or abiotic origin (Anderson et al, 1972;Biemann et al, 1977). However, experimental evidence suggests that the pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry instruments on board the Viking lander spacecraft would have been unable to detect the estimated concentration of potential organic compounds within the upper horizons of the martian surface (Glavin et al, 2001).…”

Section: Implications For Marsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Bacterial Enrichment Study and Overview of the Extractable Lipids from Paleosols in the Dry Valleys, Antarctica: Implications for Future Mars Reconnaissance

et al. 2011

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The Dry Valleys of Antarctica are one of the coldest and driest environments on Earth with paleosols in selected areas that date to the emplacement of tills by warm-based ice during the Early Miocene. Cited as an analogue to the martian surface, the ability of the Antarctic environment to support microbial life-forms is a matter of special interest, particularly with the upcoming NASA/ESA 2018 ExoMars mission. Lipid biomarkers were extracted and analyzed by gas chromatography--mass spectrometry to assess sources of organic carbon and evaluate the contribution of microbial species to the organic matter of the paleosols. Paleosol samples from the ice-free Dry Valleys were also subsampled and cultivated in a growth medium from which DNA was extracted with the explicit purpose of the positive identification of bacteria. Several species of bacteria were grown in solution and the genus identified. A similar match of the data to sequenced DNA showed that Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteriodetes, and Actinobacteridae species were cultivated. The results confirm the presence of bacteria within some paleosols, but no assumptions have been made with regard to in situ activity at present. These results underscore the need not only to further investigate Dry Valley cryosols but also to develop reconnaissance strategies to determine whether such likely Earth-like environments on the Red Planet also contain life.

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Mass spectrometric analysis of organic compounds, water and volatile constituents in the atmosphere and surface of Mars: The Viking Mars Lander

Cited by 91 publications

References 15 publications

Ultraviolet-gas phase and -photocatalytic synthesis from CO and NH3

Ultraviolet-gas phase and -photocatalytic synthesis from CO and NH3

Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith for planetary resource exploration

A Bacterial Enrichment Study and Overview of the Extractable Lipids from Paleosols in the Dry Valleys, Antarctica: Implications for Future Mars Reconnaissance

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