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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2019

End to End MOMA (Mars Organic Molecule Analyser) Campaign with the GC-MS Engineering Test Unit (ETU)

Résumé

The goals of the joint ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars-2020 rover mission include the search for molecules relevant to life (large, non-volatile organic or biological molecules that suggest existing or prior biosynthetic activity) on the martian surface and near subsurface, and the discrimination of the endogenous from the exogenous sources of organics on Mars. The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) aboard the Rosalind Franklin rover will be a key analytical tool in providing chemical (molecular) information from the solid samples collected by the rover, with a particular focus on the characterization of the organic content. The core of the MOMA instrument is a UV laser desorption / ionization ion trap mass spectrometer (LDI-ITMS) and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), with on-board derivatization capabilities, which provides the unique capability to characterize a broad range of compounds, including a range of volatile, non-volatile species, and chiral analysis. In a subset of GC-MS analyses, select samples are subjected to in situ derivatization, consisting of the reaction of the sample components with specific reactants (MTBSTFA [1], DMF-DMA [2], TMAH [3]), which increase the volatility of complex organic species. In order to test our MOMA instrumentation suite, and especially the GCMS coupling, a series of tests have been carried out with our GC-MS Engineering Test Unit (ETU). The results demonstrate the current status of the end-to-end performance of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry mode of operation. We show that from a technical point of view the MOMA instrument is working as expected. From a chemical point of view we have shown that three of the four MOMA sample preparation methods tested here (DMF-DMA, thermochemolysis with TMAH, and Pyrolysis) work efficiently under MOMA-like operational conditions. Additionally, we have demonstrated chiral and isomeric separation with both a standard sample and organics extracted from the Mars analogue samples.
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Dates et versions

insu-04438405 , version 1 (05-02-2024)

Identifiants

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A. Buch, Caroline Freissinet, Cyril Szopa, D. Kaplan, N. Grand, et al.. End to End MOMA (Mars Organic Molecule Analyser) Campaign with the GC-MS Engineering Test Unit (ETU). American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2019, Dec 2019, San Francisco, United States. pp.abstract #P33D-18. ⟨insu-04438405⟩
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