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Science 1 October 1976:
Vol. 194. no. 4260, pp. 72 - 76
DOI: 10.1126/science.194.4260.72
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Articles

Search for Organic and Volatile Inorganic Compounds in Two Surface Samples from the Chryse Planitia Region of Mars

K. BIEMANN 1, J. ORO 2, P. TOULMIN III 3, L. E. ORGEL 4, A. O. NIER 5, D. M. ANDERSON 6, P. G. SIMMONDS 7, D. FLORY 8, A. V. DIAZ 9, D. R. RUSHNECK 10, and J. A. BILLER 11

1 Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139
2 Department of Biophysical Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
3 U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 22092
4 Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, California 92102
5 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455
6 Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. 20550
7 Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, England
8 Spectrix Corporation, Houston, Texas 77054
9 NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 23665
10 Interface, Inc., Post Office Box 297, Fort Collins, Colorado 80522
11 Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Two surface samples collected from the Chryse Planitia region of Mars were heated to temperatures up to 500°C, and the volatiles that they evolved were analyzed with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. Only water and carbon dioxide were detected. This implies that organic compounds have not accumulated to the extent that individual components could be detected at levels of a few parts in 109 by weight in our samples. Proposed mechanisms for the accumulation and destruction of organic compounds are discussed in the light of this limit.

Submitted on September 2, 1976


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