• DOI:10.1126/science.1238937
• Corpus ID: 206549244

Volatile, Isotope, and Organic Analysis of Martian Fines with the Mars Curiosity Rover

@article{Leshin2013VolatileIA,
  title={Volatile, Isotope, and Organic Analysis of Martian Fines with the Mars Curiosity Rover},
  author={Laurie A. Leshin and Paul R. Mahaffy and Christopher R. Webster and Michel Cabane and Patrice Coll and Pamela G. Conrad and Paul Douglas Archer and Sushil K. Atreya and Anna E Brunner and A. Buch and Jennifer L. Eigenbrode and Gregory J. Flesch and Heather B. Franz and Caroline Freissinet and Daniel P. Glavin and Amy C. McAdam and Kristen E. Miller and Doug W. Ming and Richard V. Morris and R. Navarro‐Gonzalez and Paul B. Niles and Tobias C. Owen and Robert O. Pepin and Steven W. Squyres and Andrew Steele and Jennifer C. Stern and Roger Everett Summons and Dawn Y. Sumner and Brad Sutter and Cyril Szopa and Samuel Teinturier and Melissa G. Trainer and James J. Wray and John P. Grotzinger},
  journal={Science},
  year={2013},
  volume={341}
}

• L. Leshin, P. Mahaffy, +31 authors J. Grotzinger
• Published 27 September 2013
• Environmental Science
• Science

Samples from the Rocknest aeolian deposit were heated to ~835°C under helium flow and evolved gases analyzed by Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite. H2O, SO2, CO2, and O2 were the major gases released. Water abundance (1.5 to 3 weight percent) and release temperature suggest that H2O is bound within an amorphous component of the sample. Decomposition of fine-grained Fe or Mg carbonate is the likely source of much of the evolved CO2. Evolved O2 is coincident with the release of Cl, suggesting that oxygen is produced from thermal decomposition of an oxychloride compound. Elevated δD values are consistent with recent atmospheric exchange. Carbon isotopes indicate multiple carbon sources in the fines. Several simple organic compounds were detected, but they are not definitively martian in origin.