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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2018

The Mars Organic Molecule Analyser (MOMA) experiment onboard the Exomars rover

Résumé

The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) is one among the 9 science instruments onboard the Exomars 2020 rover. This is a unique chemical laboratory fully devoted to the search of organic molecules in the soil samples collected by the rover drill. The clay-rich rock accessible in Oxia Planum, the current preferred landing site zone, will provide the opportunity to sample ancient material, which are known to trap and stabilize organic molecules for very long durations on Earth. Moreover, the capability for the drill to collect samples down to 2 m deep will allow collection of samples that are protected from the harsh radiation and chemical conditions at the surface, thus increasing the potential to detect ancient organic materials.To achieve its goal, MOMA is composed of four main subsystems:- a pulsed UV laser ( =266 nm, 1 ns duration) for performing Laser Desorption/Ionization (LDI) of molecules from the solid samples collected by the rover. This sampling method is known as a soft ionization process producing large, intact ions from the sample- a set of ovens able to conduct sample pyrolysis up to 850°C, or chemical treatments (i.e. derivatization) of the sample to enhance the analysis of key organic species indicating biotic or prebiotic chemistry, such as amino acids. - a gas chromatograph (GC) devoted to separate the many volatile species that may be released by heating or chemical treatment of the solid samples in the ovens. To produce the separation, the GC is composed of 4 analytical channels, each one targeted for separating a specific class of organic compounds. One of them will perform enantiomeric separation in order to assess the enantiomeric excess of key organic molecules, a feature that is important for identifying the existence of prebiotic chemistry.- an ion trap mass spectrometer (MS) that will characterize the ions produced from LDI, or from ionization by electronic impact (EI) of the molecules eluting from the GC. The design of this new mass spectrometer allows for both LDMS and GCMS analyses and its performances can be tailored to the analytical mode. Basically, the MS is able to characterize the ions in the m/z 50-500 range in the GCMS mode, and the m/z 100-1000 range in the LDMS mode, thereby focusing on the expected mass ranges produced by each ionization technique. In this contribution, we present an overview of the MOMA and of its performances derived from various experiments carried out on subsystem modules, and on the engineering test unit of the instrument. We will thus show the capability for this instrument to detect organic materials in relation to biotic and prebiotic processes on Mars.
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Dates et versions

insu-04430182 , version 1 (31-01-2024)

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Cyril Szopa, Francois Raulin, Arnaud Buch, Harald Steininger, Fabien Stalport, et al.. The Mars Organic Molecule Analyser (MOMA) experiment onboard the Exomars rover. 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Jul 2018, Pasadena, United States. pp.Abstract id. B4.2-5-18. ⟨insu-04430182⟩
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