COMBUSTION OF ORGANIC MOLECULES BY THE THERMAL DECOMPOSITION OF PERCHLORATE SALTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ORGANICS AT THE MARS PHOENIX SCOUT LANDING SITE. D. W. Ming1, H. V. Lauer, Jr.2, P. D. Archer, Jr.3, B. Sutter4, D. C. Golden5, R. V. Morris1, P. B. Niles1, and W. V. Boynton4; 1NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058 (
[email protected]), 2ESCG/Barrios Tech., Houston, TX, 3Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 4Jacobs/ESCG, Houston, TX, 5ESCG/Hamilton Sundstrand, Houston, TX. Introduction: The Mars 2007 Phoenix Scout Mis- testbed to understand the effects of the thermal de- sion successfully landed on May 25, 2008 and oper- composition of perchlorate salts on organic molecules. ated on the northern plains of Mars for 150 sols. The Materials and Methods: A three component mix- primary mission objective was to study the history of ture was designed to simulate the thermal decomposi- water and evaluate the potential for past and present tion of perchlorate salt in the presence of organic mate- habitability in Martian arctic ice-rich soil [1]. Phoenix rial. The mixture consisted of 2.3 wt. % Mg- landed near 68° N latitude on polygonal terrain created perchlorate (Mg(ClO4)2.6H2O, 8.4 wt. % mellitic acid, by ice layers that are a few centimeters under loose and 87.3 wt. % SiO2. Mg-perchlorate was chosen be- soil materials. The Phoenix Mission is assessing the cause it is a leading candidate for the perchlorate salt potential for habitability by searching for organic in the Phoenix soils [3]. Mellitic acid (benzenehex- molecules in the ice or icy soils at the landing site.