Mars Desert Research Station MDRS-Crew 77: Terrestrial field research investigating organics and biomolecules
- Paper number
IAC-09.A1.5.6
- Author
Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University, United States
- Coauthor
Prof. Bernard Foing, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Dr. Richard Quinn, NASA - Ames Research Center, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Carol Stoker, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States
- Coauthor
Prof. Mark Sephton, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Dr. Zita Martins, Imperial College London, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Grazyna Orzechowska, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Coauthor
Ms. Luann Becker, University of California, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Christoph Gross, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany
- Coauthor
Dr. Cora Thiel, Max-Planck Institut, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Lorenz Wendt, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany
- Coauthor
Ms. Ludivine Boche-Sauvan, European Space Agency, The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Mr. Jhony Zavaleta, NASA - Ames Research Center, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Phillipe Sarazzin, InXitu Inc., United States
- Year
2009
- Abstract
The goal of the EuroGeoMars campaign in Utah at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in February 2009 was to perform field research and to demonstrate instrument capabilities in support of current and future Mars missions, such as MarsExpress, Mars Science Laboratory and Exomars. The MDRS Crew 77 collected soil samples from different locations in the vicinity of the MDRS station in Utah from the Morrison formation and investigated those soils in the laboratory with Terra XRD/XRF (X-ray diffraction/X-ray fluorescence) from InXitu Inc. and a Raman InPhotonics (LAS-750-300 Class 3b embedded Diode Laser, 785 nm wavelength) instrument. We also measured selected soil properties including pH value and elemental composition of Ca, K, P, Mg, and nitrate directly in the field using colorimetric chemical reactions (LaMotte Soil Testing System). Salt concentrations were estimated with a conductivity probe. According to this combined measurements we selected soils that most likely trigger oxidative processes when incubated with chemometric sensor arrays similar to the Mars Oxidation Instrument (MOI), selected as payload component for the European Exomars mission. We present results on the concentration and degradation processes of organic compounds from the MDRS campaign and subsequent laboratory analyses. The reported field investigations are crucial to support future endeavors to search for organic compounds on Mars.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-09.A1.5.6.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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