The Search for Lipids on Mars: Examining the Influence of Mineralogy on the Pyrolysis of Carboxylic Acids
Résumé
Lipids, such as fatty acids and waxes, are essential for all life on Earth. As early Mars shared many similarities with the early Earth multiple missions have examined ancient martian sediments for the presence of fatty acids and other organic species. No clear detection of lipids has been made so far, instead only small simple molecules have been observed, with the results dominated by species containing chlorine or sulfur. It has become clear that further developing our understanding of how organic and inorganic phases interact, both in situ and within flight instrumentation on Mars, is greatly needed. In this work, we mixed various fatty acid standards with different Mars-relevant minerals and examined them with a range of flight-relevant analytical methods. We also investigated how certain minerals might trap and preserve organics as they crystallize out of solution. The result inform how fatty acids may appear to the heating experiments used by past and present missions and the laser and spectroscopic methods included in upcoming science payloads.