The Mars Oxidant experiment (MOx) for Mars '96

McKay, Christopher P.; Grunthaner, F. J.; Lane, A. L.; Herring, M.; Bartman, Randall K.; Ksendzov, A.; Manning, C.; Lamb, James L.; Williams, Ross; Ricco, Antonio J.; Butler, M. A.; Murray, Bruce C.; Quinn, R. C.; Zent, A. P.; Klein, Harold P.; Levin, Gilbert V.

doi:10.1016/s0032-0633(98)00011-7

Cited by 35 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Coupled with the absence of liquid water on the surface of Mars and with the irradiation of the surface by ultraviolet light, the failure to detect organic substances led many to conclude that one must dig deeply (and perhaps very deeply) below the Martian surface to have a chance of encountering any organic molecules that may have arisen from life on Mars (perhaps present several billion years ago, when the surface of Mars was more like the surface of Earth at that time and when life almost certainly had emerged on Earth) or of encountering organic molecules that may have been delivered to Mars via meteorite (9,10).…”

Section: Gc-ms On the Viking 1976mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No model has been presented to date that can quantitatively explain the details of the gas exchange and label release experiments (see review in ref. 9). Some models combine both a thermally stable source of oxygen (e.g., KO 2 or CaO 2 ) and a thermally labile oxidizing agent to explain the label release results (62).…”

Section: Absence Of Organic Molecules Detectable By the Viking 1976 Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The missing organic molecules on Mars

Benner

Devine

Matveeva

et al. 2000

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

377

350

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

GC-MS on the Viking 1976Mars missions did not detect organic molecules on the Martian surface, even those expected from meteorite bombardment. This result suggested that the Martian regolith might hold a potent oxidant that converts all organic molecules to carbon dioxide rapidly relative to the rate at which they arrive. This conclusion is influencing the design of Mars missions. We reexamine this conclusion in light of what is known about the oxidation of organic compounds generally and the nature of organics likely to come to Mars via meteorite. We conclude that nonvolatile salts of benzenecarboxylic acids, and perhaps oxalic and acetic acid, should be metastable intermediates of meteoritic organics under oxidizing conditions. Salts of these organic acids would have been largely invisible to GC-MS. Experiments show that one of these, benzenehexacarboxylic acid (mellitic acid), is generated by oxidation of organic matter known to come to Mars, is rather stable to further oxidation, and would not have been easily detected by the Viking experiments. Approximately 2 kg of meteorite-derived mellitic acid may have been generated per m 2 of Martian surface over 3 billion years. How much remains depends on decomposition rates under Martian conditions. As available data do not require that the surface of Mars be very strongly oxidizing, some organic molecules might be found near the surface of Mars, perhaps in amounts sufficient to be a resource. Missions should seek these and recognize that these complicate the search for organics from entirely hypothetical Martian life.Viking ͉ organic compounds ͉ exobiology ͉ astrobiology

show abstract

Section: Gc-ms On the Viking 1976mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Absence Of Organic Molecules Detectable By the Viking 1976 Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

The missing organic molecules on Mars

Benner

Devine

Matveeva

et al. 2000

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

377

350

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Mostly due to the Viking missions in the 1970s and more recent Pathfinder investigations, considerable knowledge has been acquired on the geology and chemical composition of Mars (Banin et al 1992, McSween et al 1999. The "biological" experiments on the Viking landers (Oyama et al 1976, Levin and Straat 1976, McKay et al 1998) revealed unexpected chemical activity in the surface material, which in some ways resembled biology but was eventually assigned to a rather complex chemistry. These experiments showed that humidifying martian soil resulted in oxygen evolution, while addition of a bacterial nutrient solution ( 14 C-labeled formate, glycine, lactate, alanine, and glycolate) resulted in 14 CO 2 evolution in the reaction chamber, together with some formation of oxygen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These observations were interpreted as indication of the presence of a strong oxidant on the martian surface or, most probably, several different types of oxidants (Klein 1978, McKay et al 1998. Samples of terrestrial soils from locations around the world were used to test Viking equipment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron(VI): Hypothetical Candidate for the Martian Oxidant

Tsapin¹

2000

Icarus

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The lack of organics in the martian soil could also be explained by their oxidation to carbon dioxide due to the presence of such oxidants and͞or direct UV radiation damage (8). There have been many suggestions regarding the nature of the chemical reactivity of the martian soil, but no laboratory experiment has yet been able to simulate both the gas exchange (3) and the LR response (5 have not yet performed in situ experiments on Mars.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization–gas chromatography–MS and their implications for the Viking results

Navarro‐González¹,

Navarro²,

Rosa³

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

158

107

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The failure of Viking Lander thermal volatilization (TV) (without or with thermal degradation)-gas chromatography (GC)-MS experiments to detect organics suggests chemical rather than biological interpretations for the reactivity of the martian soil. Here, we report that TV-GC-MS may be blind to low levels of organics on astrobiology ͉ detection of organics ͉ search for martian life ͉ extreme environments ͉ deserts

show abstract

The Mars Oxidant experiment (MOx) for Mars '96

Cited by 35 publications

References 34 publications

The missing organic molecules on Mars

The missing organic molecules on Mars

Iron(VI): Hypothetical Candidate for the Martian Oxidant

The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization–gas chromatography–MS and their implications for the Viking results

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About