Detection of Organics at Mars: How Wet Chemistry Onboard SAM Helps
Résumé
For thefirst time in the history of space explora-tion, a mission of interest to astrobiology could be able to analyze refractory organic compounds in the soil of Mars. Wet chemistry experiment allow organic com-ponents to be altered in such a way that improves there detection either by releasing the compounds from sam-ple matricies or by changing the chemical structure to be amenable to analytical conditions. The latter is par-ticular important when polar compounds are present. Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), on theCuriosity rov-er of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, has onboard two wet chemistry experiments: derivatization [1-2] and thermochemolysis [3-4]. Here we report on the nature of the MTBSTFA derivatization experiment on SAM, the detection of MTBSTFA in initial SAM results, and the implications of this detection
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