Searching for Signs of Life on Mars

MOMA uses ultraviolet laser pulses to release and ionize organic compounds captured within crushed Martian surface and near-surface materials. Because each laser pulse lasts less than two billionths of a second, this process effectively ionizes more heat-resistant materials than those accessed by traditional oven-heating (pyrolysis) methods. Pulsed laser processing preserves weak molecular bonds, and enables the identification of organic compounds even in the presence of highly reactive perchlorates commonly found in Martian surface materials. || One of the biggest questions in planetary science is whether life ever arose on Mars, and NASA and the European Space Agency are sending a cutting-edge instrument to the red planet to find out. The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, or MOMA, will be the most sophisticated mass spectrometer ever sent beyond Earth, squeezing a lab full of chemistry equipment into a package the size of a toaster. MOMA will ride to Mars aboard the European Space Agency s mass spectrometer employs a linear ion trap design, the first application of this technology in space. Using what are termed SWIFT techniques, MOMA can eject unwanted molecular species and enrich signals from molecules of interest. SWIFT stands for Stored Waveform Inverse Fourier Transform. || Through tandem mass spectrometry, or MS/MS, the MOMA instrument can intentionally break apart primary molecules and analyze their secondary fragments. || Benzoic acid is a ring (aromatic) hydrocarbon comprised of benzene and a carboxyl group. MOMA identifies molecules by determining their mass spectrum, depicted at right. || Oleic acid is a chain (aliphatic) hydrocarbon, and one of the fatty acid molecules that makes up cell membranes on Earth. The mass spectrum for Oleic acid is depicted at right. || The properties of an organic molecule depend not just on its molecular formula, but also on its structure. Isobaric compounds have different formulas and structures, but the same mass-to-charge ratio (M/Z), making them difficult to tell apart. Technologies on MOMA allow it to distinguish between such compounds. || Lipids (fats) are long chains of carbon and hydrogen that make up cell membranes on Earth. MOMA will be the first instrument on Mars capable of detecting lipids, a leap forward in the search for life.

Highlight reel of the MOMA instrument during testing:00:00 - close up of the mass spectrometer subsystem00:06 - cleaning MOMA inside the Mars thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC)00:56 - preparation for electromagnetic interference (EMI) testing || The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, or MOMA, is a miniaturized, highly sophisticated organic chemistry laboratory headed to the red planet aboard ESA s ultraviolet laser will allow it to study large organic molecules on Mars.

Music Credits: “Swirling Blizzard” by Laurent Dury [SACEM], “Sparkle Shimmer” by William Henries [PRS] and Michael Holborn [PRS] from Universal Production MusicAdditional footage from:Science@NASA: https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/news-articles/on-the-cusp-of-understandingJPL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMZ5WFRbSTcJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab: https://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ || Mercury is special. As the closest planet to the Sun, it occupies a region where the Sun’s influence is changing dramatically. The Sun’s magnetic field, which dominates space close to the Sun, is rapidly waning. And Mercury’s orbit – more elliptical or “oval-shaped” than any other planet – allows it to experience a wider range of solar magnetic field conditions than any other planet. As a result, Mercury provides a unique opportunity to study how the Sun’s influence on a planet varies with distance.In a new study published in Nature Communications, Goddard scientists Norberto Romanelli and Gina DiBraccio used data from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to study the Sun’s changing interaction with Mercury. As Mercury moves through the solar wind, the steady stream of particles escaping the Sun, some of them strike Mercury’s magnetosphere and bounce back towards the Sun. These rebounding solar wind particles generate low-frequency waves that reverberate through space, traveling “upstream” in the solar wind towards the Sun. Romanelli and DiBraccio observed these waves emanating from Mercury and discovered that the rate of wave production varied throughout Mercury’s orbit. As Mercury moved farther from the Sun it generated more waves; as it got closer, the rate of wave production dropped. The results provide key evidence for a theory that these waves are affected, in part, by the strength of the Sun’s magnetic field, which grows weaker with distance.