Analysis of Organic Compounds in the Apollo 73002 Core Sample as part of Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA)

Abstract:

The organic content of lunar regolith was an early focus of study upon the return of Apollo samples. Amino acids were of special interest because of their importance to life on Earth, and recent studies showed that amino acids detected in the Apollo samples originated both from terrestrial contamination and from meteoritic or cometary infall of organic matter to the lunar surface. Most of these detected amino acids appear to have formed from precursor molecules that reacted during the water extraction and acid hydrolysis process for analysis in the laboratory, but the identities of the amino acid precursors remain poorly understood. Precursors could include cyanide species and organic compounds such as amines, carboxylic acids, or aldehydes and ketones.

The specially curated samples available through the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program provide a unique opportunity to use state-of-the-art analytical techniques to examine previously unstudied lunar materials. Our team is analyzing these samples for amino acids and their volatile precursors to understand not only the identities and distribution of these compounds on the lunar surface, but also the effects of various curation practices on the preservation of the volatile compounds.

We will present the results of our initial investigation of a sample from the 73002 core sample (the upper half of an Apollo 17 double drive tube), including analyses of amino acids, insoluble cyanide species, and aliphatic amines, carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and ketones. Future work will lead to the comparison of these results with samples taken from different depths within the two halves of the Apollo 17 drive tube.