Biology
Scientific paper
Jun 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007psrd.repte.117m&link_type=abstract
Planetary Science Research Discoveries
Biology
Hydrogen Peroxide, Mars, Martian, Moon, Lunar, Silicate, Oxidizing, Reactive, Regolith, Soil, Life On Mars
Scientific paper
Joel Hurowitz (previously at State University of New York at Stony Brook and now at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Nick Tosca, Scott McLennan, and Martin Schoonen (SUNY at Stony Brook) studied the production of hydrogen peroxide from freshly pulverized minerals in solution. Their experiments focused on olivine, augite, and labradorite; silicate minerals of basaltic planetary surfaces, such as the Moon and Mars, that are exposed to the intense crushing and grinding of impact cratering processes. The hydrogen peroxide produced in the experiments was enough to adequately explain the oxidizing nature of Martian regolith first determined by the Viking Landers and the results suggest, for the first time, that mechanically activated mineral surfaces may be an important part of the overall explanation for the Viking Lander biology experiment results. Hurowitz and coauthors further showed that when the pulverized minerals are heat-treated to high temperature under vacuum (to cause dehydroxylation) there is almost a 20 times increase in hydrogen peroxide production, a result which may be highly relevant to lunar dust. These careful studies demonstrate the importance of and concern about reactive dusts on planetary surfaces from two standpoints: the health of astronauts on surface maneuvers who may inadvertently breath it and the viability of possible Martian organic species to survive in such a corrosive, antiseptic surface environment.
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