Performances of the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) GC-MS suite aboard ExoMars Mission
Noel Grand1, Arnaud Buch2, Veronica T. Pinnick3, Cyril Szopa4, Olivier Humeau5, Ryan Danell6, Friso H W van Amerom7, Caroline Freissinet8, Daniel Patrick Glavin9, Imene Belmahdi10, Patrice J Coll11, Benjamin Lustrement5, William B Brinckerhoff12, Ricardo Arevalo Jr13, Fabien Stalport14, Harald Steininger15, Fred Goesmann16, Francois Raulin17, Paul R Mahaffy18 and MOMA Science Team, (1)LISA Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, Créteil Cedex, France, (2)Organization Not Listed, Washington, DC, United States, (3)UMBC Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST), Baltimore, MD, United States, (4)Université Versailles St-Quentin, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, CNRS, LATMOS Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, Paris, France, (5)LATMOS Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, Paris Cedex 05, France, (6)Danell Consulting, Winterville, NC, United States, (7)Mini Mass Consulting, Hyattsville, United States, (8)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Postdoctoral Program, Greenbelt, United States, (9)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar System Exploration Division, Greenbelt, United States, (10)ecole centrale Paris, LGPM, Chatenay Malabry, France, (11)LISA, Creteil Cedex, France, (12)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (13)NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, United States, (14)Université de Paris, Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, Créteil Cedex, France, (15)Max Planck Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, (16)Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Gottingen, Germany, (17)LISA Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, CRETEIL, France, (18)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Planetary Environments Laboratory, Greenbelt, United States
Abstract:
The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) aboard the ExoMars rover (Pasteur) will be a key analytical tool in providing chemical (molecular) information from the solid samples collected by the rover, with a particular focus on the characterization of the organic content. Samples will be extracted as deep as 2 meters below the martian surface to minimize effects of radiation and oxidation on organic materials. The core of the MOMA instrument is a dual source UV laser desorption / ionization (LDI) and pyrolysis gas chromatography (pyr-GC) ion trap mass spectrometer (ITMS) which provides the unique capability to characterize a broad range of compounds, including both of volatile and non-volatile species. Samples which undergo GC-ITMS analysis may be submitted to a derivatization process, consisting of the reaction of the sample components with specific reactants (MTBSTFA [1], DMF-DMA [2] or TMAH [3]) which increase the volatility of complex organic species.
With the goal to optimize this instrumentation, and especially the GC-ITMS coupling, a series of tests is currently being carried out with prototypes of MOMA instrumentation and with the ETU models wich is similar to the flight model. The MOMA oven and tapping station are also part of these end-to-end experiments. Qualitative and quantitative tests has been done on gas, liquid and solid samples. The results obtained demonstrate the current status of the end-to-end performance of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry mode of operation. Both prototypes individually meet the performance requirements, but this work particularly demonstrates the capabilities of the critical GC-MS interface.
References: [1] Buch, A. et al. (2009) J chrom. A, 43, 143-151. [2] Freissinet et al. (2011) J Chrom A, 1306, 59-71. [3] Geffroy-Rodier, C. et al. (2009) JAAP, 85, 454-459.
Acknowledgements: Funding provided by the Mars Exploration Program (point of contact, George Tahu, NASA/HQ). MOMA is a collaboration between NASA and ESA (PI Goesmann, MPS). MOMA-GC team acknowledges support from the French Space Agency (CNES), French National Programme of Planetology (PNP), National French Council (CNRS), Pierre Simon Laplace Institute.
