Search for Organic and Volatile Inorganic Compounds in Two Surface Samples from the Chryse Planitia Region of Mars
Abstract
Two surface samples collected from the Chryse Planitia region of Mars were heated to temperatures up to 500 degrees C, and the volatiles that they evolved were analyzed with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. Only water and carbon dioxide were detected. This implies that organic compounds have not accumulated to the extent that individual components could be detected at levels of a few parts in 109 by weight in our samples. Proposed mechanisms for the accumulation and destruction of organic compounds are discussed in the light of this limit.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- October 1976
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1976Sci...194...72B
- Keywords:
-
- Mars Surface Samples;
- Organic Compounds;
- Planetary Composition;
- Atmospheric Composition;
- Biochemistry;
- Carbon Dioxide;
- Gas Chromatography;
- Heat Treatment;
- Inorganic Compounds;
- Mass Spectrometers;
- Temperature Effects;
- Viking Lander Spacecraft;
- Volatility;
- Water;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration