Volatiles Measured by the Phoenix Lander at the Northern Plains of Mars

Kounaves, Samuel P.; Oberlin, Elizabeth

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-804191-8.00009-x

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 87 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, it is not clear that this amount of Mg is available from soil. The Phoenix polar mission measured soluble Mg and SO 3 separately and concluded that a likely 2 wt% of soluble MgSO 4 was present in soil in that area [213], inferring a Mg 2+ concentration of 166 mM for our example W/R = 1, which is within the range of 83 to 185 mM, as derived from the Mg 2+ concentration (within error bars, across different samples) measured. It is unknown whether the Phoenix soil has as high total SO 3 as the typical global soil measured at six other mission locations (all in equatorial or mid-latitude locations).…”

Section: Other Key Elementsmentioning

confidence: 58%

Origin of Life on Mars: Suitability and Opportunities

Clark

Kolb

Steele

et al. 2021

Life

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although the habitability of early Mars is now well established, its suitability for conditions favorable to an independent origin of life (OoL) has been less certain. With continued exploration, evidence has mounted for a widespread diversity of physical and chemical conditions on Mars that mimic those variously hypothesized as settings in which life first arose on Earth. Mars has also provided water, energy sources, CHNOPS elements, critical catalytic transition metal elements, as well as B, Mg, Ca, Na and K, all of which are elements associated with life as we know it. With its highly favorable sulfur abundance and land/ocean ratio, early wet Mars remains a prime candidate for its own OoL, in many respects superior to Earth. The relatively well-preserved ancient surface of planet Mars helps inform the range of possible analogous conditions during the now-obliterated history of early Earth. Continued exploration of Mars also contributes to the understanding of the opportunities for settings enabling an OoL on exoplanets. Favoring geochemical sediment samples for eventual return to Earth will enhance assessments of the likelihood of a Martian OoL.

show abstract

Section: Other Key Elementsmentioning

confidence: 58%

Origin of Life on Mars: Suitability and Opportunities

Clark

Kolb

Steele

et al. 2021

Life

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The relative distribution of heavier and lighter isotopes between two coexisting phases in a natural system is called isotope fractionation [ 57 ]. Metabolic activity in organisms, or the interaction of volatile elements with aqueous and crustal material, are all processes that induce predictable enrichment or depletion in a specific isotope [ 58 ]. For this reason, there are distinct isotope fractionation models that allow the interpretation of the prevailing processes involved, and these patterns can be used not only in the description of past events, but they are also widely used in the observation and analysis of real time phenomena [ 59 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivation of the Acidophilic Microalgae Galdieria phlegrea with Wastewater: Process Yields

Cicco

Palmieri

Altieri

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Algal based wastewater treatment offers the opportunity to recover, in the form of biomass, the nutrients and internal chemical energy of wastewater. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of extremophilic microalgae, as they can easily adapt to difficult and often pollutant-rich environments. The thermo-acidophilic microalga Galdieria phlegrea is a species of recent discovery and great metabolic versatility, but it has still been poorly studied. Here, G. phlegrea was cultivated using raw municipal wastewater in 1 L Erlenmeyer flasks with 700 mL working volume at 37 °C for up to nine days. During the cultivation phase, biomass growth, phycocyanin content, ammonium and phosphate removal from the wastewater, lipid fraction, total carbon and nitrogen in the biomass, and variation in δ13C and δ15N isotopic ratios (a novel analytical contribution in these experiments) were monitored. Results indicated that G. phlegrea was able to grow in raw effluent, where it removed more than 50% ammonium and 20% phosphate in 24 h; total lipid content was in the range of 11–22%, while average C-N content was of 45% and 6%, respectively; isotopic analyses proved to be a useful support in identifying C and N metabolic pathways from effluent to biomass. Overall, G. phlegrea showed consistent performance with similar Cyanidiophyceae and is a potentially viable candidate for municipal wastewater valorization from a circular economy perspective.

show abstract

“…Isotopic composition of carbon ( 13 C/ 12 C) is somewhat more complicated. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) dominates the current Martian atmosphere and is involved in various planetary processes, including volcanic degassing, atmospheric escape, formation of carbonate minerals and organic matter and their possible preservation at the Martian subsurface system (Hu et al 2015;Bridges et al 2019;Kounaves and Oberlin 2019). Present-day Martian atmospheric CO 2 has heavy 13 C/ 12 C ratio of δ 13 C = 46 ± 4 ‰ referenced to the Vienna Pee Dee belemnite (VPDB) analyzed by Curiosity rover (Webster et al 2013).…”

Section: Martian Sample On the Phobos Surfacementioning

confidence: 99%

The Mars system revealed by the Martian Moons eXploration mission

Ogohara

Nakagawa

Aoki

et al. 2022

Earth Planets Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans a Phobos sample return mission (MMX: Martian Moons eXploration). In this study, we review the related works on the past climate of Mars, its evolution, and the present climate and weather to describe the scientific goals and strategies of the MMX mission regarding the evolution of the Martian surface environment. The MMX spacecraft will retrieve and return a sample of Phobos regolith back to Earth in 2029. Mars ejecta are expected to be accumulated on the surface of Phobos without being much shocked. Samples from Phobos probably contain all types of Martian rock from sedimentary to igneous covering all geological eras if ejecta from Mars could be accumulated on the Phobos surface. Therefore, the history of the surface environment of Mars can be restored by analyzing the returned samples. Remote sensing of the Martian atmosphere and monitoring ions escaping to space while the spacecraft is orbiting Mars in the equatorial orbit are also planned. The camera with multi-wavelength filters and the infrared spectrometer onboard the spacecraft can monitor rapid transport processes of water vapor, dust, ice clouds, and other species, which could not be traced by the previous satellites on the sun-synchronous polar orbit. Such time-resolved pictures of the atmospheric phenomena should be an important clue to understand both the processes of water exchange between the surface/underground reservoirs and the atmosphere and the drivers of efficient material transport to the upper atmosphere. The mass spectrometer with unprecedented mass resolution can observe ions escaping to space and monitor the atmospheric escape which has made the past Mars to evolve towards the cold and dry surface environment we know today. Together with the above two instruments, it can potentially reveal what kinds of atmospheric events can transport tracers (e.g., H2O) upward and enhance the atmospheric escape. Graphical Abstract

show abstract

Volatiles Measured by the Phoenix Lander at the Northern Plains of Mars

Cited by 6 publications

References 87 publications

Origin of Life on Mars: Suitability and Opportunities

Origin of Life on Mars: Suitability and Opportunities

Cultivation of the Acidophilic Microalgae Galdieria phlegrea with Wastewater: Process Yields

The Mars system revealed by the Martian Moons eXploration mission

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About