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Hydrogen Isotopic Composition of Water in the Martian Atmosphere and Released from Rocknest FinesThe Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover sampled the aeolian bedform called Rocknest as its first solid samples to be analyzed by the analytical instruments CheMin and SAM. The instruments ingested aliquots from a sieved sample of less than 150 micrometer grains. As discussed in other reports at this conference [e.g., 1], CheMin discovered many crystalline phases, almost all of which are igneous minerals, plus some 10s of percent of x-ray amorphous material. The SAM instrument is focused on understanding volatiles and possible organics in the fines, performing evolved gas analysis (EGA) with the SAM quadrapole mass spectrometer (QMS), isotope measurements using both the QMS and the tunable laser spectrometer (TLS), which is sensitive to CO2, water and methane, and organics with the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS). As discussed in the abstract by Franz et al. [2] and others, EGA of Rocknest fines revealed the presence of significant amounts of H2O as well as O-, C- and S-bearing materials. SAM has also tasted the martian atmosphere several times, analyzing the volatiles in both the TLS and QMS [e.g., 3,4]. This abstract will focus on presentation of initial hydrogen isotopic data from the TLS for Rocknest soils and the atmosphere, and their interpretation. Data for CO2 isotopes and O isotopes in water are still being reduced, but should be available by at the conference.
Document ID
20130009135
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Leshin, L. A. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. Troy, NY, United States)
Webster, C. R. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Mahaffy, P. R. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Flesh, G. J. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Christensen, L. E. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Stern, J. C. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Franz, H. B. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
McAdam, A. C. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Niles, P. B. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Archer, P. B., Jr. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Sutter, B. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Jones, J. H. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Ming, D. W. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Atreya, S. K. (Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Owen, T. C. (Hawaii Univ. Honolulu, HI, United States)
Conrad, P. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 27, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2013
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-27925
Meeting Information
Meeting: Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
Location: The Woodlands, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: March 18, 2013
End Date: March 22, 2013
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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