MSL - SAM and CHEMIN, Discussion of the science/results from these instruments |
MSL - SAM and CHEMIN, Discussion of the science/results from these instruments |
Nov 21 2012, 11:46 AM
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
ADMIN NOTE: Hi All, a new topic for the discussion of the science from the SAM and Chemin instruments.
There has been a very important amendment to Rule 1.3 which is explained here. Please remember Rule 1.3 at all times when discussing matters in this section. |
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Dec 13 2013, 12:44 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2346 Joined: 7-December 12 Member No.: 6780 |
So far I've only fringe ideas to overcome that obstacle, meaning to synthesize the necessary reagents like water or HCl from Martian soil. That's either extraordinarily difficult or not possible with SAM.
If it's possible to synthesize some water by dry destillation of a "large" sample or by accumulating some water by repeated experiments, and this water could be delivered back to a small sample, one could try to leach out perchlorates together with polar organic compouds. By heating, polar and non-polar compounds should burn up / evaporate in a different way from an untreated sample, showing the presence of polar organic compounds. But I actually doubt, that this can be performed. Mainly because I suspect, that transporting trapped substances back to the ovens isn't foreseen. Next question: Can ovens be kept under pressure to enable water to condense? So, at the end, I think, they'll try a wet cup, if there is sufficient evidence for the presence of organics. |
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Dec 13 2013, 07:12 PM
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#3
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 93 Joined: 21-January 13 Member No.: 6845 |
To get enough water for leaching seems unlikely.
There was a good idea and already some hardware development for the Urey instrument. Subcritical water extraction followed by a sublimation step to get ride of the salts. (pre Phoenix so no perclorates) http://www.geology.wisc.edu/astrobiology/d...ace_Sci_Rev.pdf ----Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector http://astrobiology.berkeley.edu/PDFs_arti...reyAstrobio.pdf ---The Urey Instrument: An Advanced In Situ Organic and Oxidant Detector for Mars Exploration The instrument was a good idea and would have been a good start for sample preparatuion. The Micro-Capillary Electrophoresis is not the best method I can think of but the extraction would benefit any Mars mission. If you have another brilliant idea the MOMA pyrolysis GC-MS team is always searching for the perfect method to get rid of the perchlorates. |
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