[X] My Assistant

[Astro0]

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.

[RonJones]

I have not seen any specific statements from the Curiosity science team regarding the ability of SAM to detect organics if perclorates are present in a soil/rock sample. Since SAM first heats the sample up to a high termperature (e.g., 1000 deg.) to vapaorize the sample, would this not destroy organics if perclorates are also present in that sample? Since we have known about the potential for perclorates in the Martian soil since the Pheonix results reported in 2008, I asume this has been considered in some detail by the Curiosity team. Anyone have any information on what level of perclorates would be sufficient to cause significant problems for SAM being able to detect organics (I assume that would also depend on the level of organics in the sample)?

[marsophile]

...would this not destroy organics if perclorates are also present in that sample?

All you have to do is wash the sample in water before pyrolyzing it. That would remove water-soluble components like perchlorate while retaining hydrophobic organic substances if any are present. I was under the impression that Curiosity has this capability or something like it.

[mcaplinger]

All you have to do is wash the sample in water before pyrolyzing it...I was under the impression that Curiosity has this capability or something like it.

Not that I'm aware of. SAM has its wet chemistry cells but the SAM instrument paper referenced above doesn't indicate that this is their purpose -- see section 4.6, "Solid Sample Measurements Based on Wet Chemical Processing".

Note that Springer-Verlag has made all of the MSL instrument papers free-access until the end of the year, so there's no excuse not to read up if you're interested -- http://link.springer.com/journal/11214/170/1/page/1