Detection of Organic Compounds in Martian Regolith Analogs: Links between LDMS and GCMS analysis of the MOMA instrument onboard the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover
Résumé
The primary objective of the ExoMars 2022 mission is the search for signs of life on Mars, and in particular the detection of molecular biosignatures. The key instrument onboard the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover for detecting organics is MOMA, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, which will operate in two different modes: Laser Desorption Ionization – and Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry. In order to help interpretation of MOMA in situ observations it is very important to systematically study how its detectability/sensitivity limits can be affected by a variety of factors, such as how organic molecules interact with minerals, concentration of organic molecules, and presence of reactive oxidants. Here we show laboratory analog experiments where we simulate in the lab MOMA operations to detect organics like the amino acid L-phenylalanine adsorbed on the clay mineral montmorillonite at different organic concentrations with and without magnesium perchlorate.