Perchlorate Salts in the Martian Surface Environment - A Reexamination of the 1976 Viking Biology Results

Details Perchlorate Salts in the Martian Surface Environment - A Reexamination of the 1976 Viking Biology Results Perchlorate Salts in the Martian Surface Environment - A Reexamination of the 1976 Viking Biology Results

Jan 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21544810d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #448.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.455

Biology

Scientific paper

The Viking Mars landers of 1976 conducted three biology experiments designed to detect the presence of microbial life in the Martian surface. The gas exchange experiment carried out by the Viking landers periodically sampled the gaseous headspace of Mars soil samples saturated with an organic/inorganic aqueous mixture, M4 nutrient. A gas chromatograph measured the change in concentrations of N2, O2, CO2, Kr, H2, and CH4 over various time intervals. The presence of metabolically active microbial life would be confirmed by the consumption or release of one of these gases. A significant release of O2 was detected after the addition of nutrient, however since the Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer experiment did not detect organics in the soil, this rapid release of O2 could not be attributed to microbial life, but rather a chemical reaction.
The recent discovery of the oxidizer perchlorate in the Martian soil by the Phoenix Mars lander was investigated as the principal cause of this O2 release detected by the Viking gas exchange experiment. A variety of oxychloride salts ranging from hypochlorite to perchlorate were examined under conditions similar to the Viking experiment in order to determine if a rapid release of O2 would be detected upon addition of M4 nutrient. No oxychloride species examined decomposed with the kinetics required to support an oxychloride as the cause of the O2 response detected by the Viking experiment.

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