Detection of martian amino acids by chemical derivatization coupled to gas chromatography: In situ and laboratory analysis

If there is, or ever was, life in our solar system beyond the Earth, Mars is the most likely place to search for. Future space missions will have then to take into account the detection of prebiotic molecules or molecules of biological significance such as amino acids. Techniques of analysis used fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advances in space research 2001, Vol.27 (2), p.195-199
Main Authors: Rodier, C., Vandenabeele-Trambouze, O., Sternberg, R., Coscia, D., Coll, P., Szopa, C., Raulin, F., Vidal-Madjar, C., Cabane, M., Israel, G., Grenier-Loustalot, M.F., Dobrijevic, M., Despois, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acids - analysis
Astrophysics
Chromatography, Gas
Exobiology - instrumentation
Extraterrestrial Environment
Galactic Astrophysics
Mars
Sciences of the Universe
Soil - analysis
Space Flight - instrumentation
Space life sciences
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Summary:If there is, or ever was, life in our solar system beyond the Earth, Mars is the most likely place to search for. Future space missions will have then to take into account the detection of prebiotic molecules or molecules of biological significance such as amino acids. Techniques of analysis used for returned samples have to be very sensitive and avoid any chemical or biological contamination whereas in situ techniques have to be automated, fast and low energy consuming. Several possible methods could be used for in situ amino acid analyses on Mars, but gas chromatography would likely be the most suitable. Returned samples could be analyzed by any method in routine laboratory use such as gas chromatography, already successfully performed for analyses of organic matter including amino acids from martian meteorites. The derivatization step, which volatilizes amino acids to perform both in situ and laboratory analysis by gas chromatography, is discussed here.
ISSN:0273-1177
1879-1948
DOI:10.1016/S0273-1177(01)00047-3