Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.4008p&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #40.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.493
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Mars may receive large amounts of carbonaceous molecules, delivered by impact of dust particles and meteorites. However, evidence for the presence of organic molecules was not found by the Viking landers. One hypothesis to explain the absence of organic molecules is that there may be degradation processes occurring in the martian regolith that destroy organic compounds, or alter them in such a way that they are not detected. We describe the investigations into the chemical properties of Mars soil analogues and the influence of soil mineralogy on the stability of amino acids. Mars soil analogues were collected from the Atacama desert near the Arequipa region in Peru and near the Yungay region in Chile. A precipitated sediment from the Salten Skov region in Denmark and a sample of the Orgueil meteorite, were also included. We measured the pH, redox potential, ion concentrations, carbonaceous compounds, and amino acid abundances of various samples. The results show large differences for the measured properties, even for samples taken only several metres apart. The Arequipa, Salten Skov, and Orgueil samples were exposed to a simulated Mars environment to test the stability of amino acids in these Mars soil analogues. The results show moderate to strong levels of amino acid destruction for the Arequipa and Orgueil samples, but not for the Salten Skov sample. The difference in amino acid stability is attributed to differences in the mineralogical composition among the samples. The results are interpreted in the context of future missions to Mars that will be searching for organic molecules embedded in mineral matrices.
Becker Lee
Ehrenfreund Pascale
Grunthaner Frank
Martins Zita
Peeters Zan
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