UV IRRADIATION OF CARBONACEOUS METEORITES MAY SYNTHESIZE SMALL ORGANIC ACIDS ON MARS

Files

JoseUVAbstract.pdf (267.57 KB)

Links to Files

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20250006287

Permanent Link

http://hdl.handle.net/11603/39563

Collections

UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
UMBC Faculty Collection

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2025-06-16

Type of Work

conference papers and proceedings
preprints
Text

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Buckner, D. K., M. B. Wilhelm, G. Cooper, A. J. Williams, A. C. Schuerger, J. C. Aponte, D. Foustoukos, and F. Seguin. “UV IRRADIATION OF CARBONACEOUS METEORITES MAY SYNTHESIZE SMALL ORGANIC ACIDS ON MARS,” June 16, 2025. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20250006287.

Rights

This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain

Subjects

Abstract

Organics are required for life as we know it and are ubiquitous to primitive abiotic exogenous materials, including carbonaceous chondrites [1,2]. Since biotic and abiotic synthesis mechanisms differ, organics bear molecular structures, distributions, and isotopic signatures that can indicate biological vs astrochemical/geological origin, making organics high-priority targets in astrobiological exploration of Mars [1]. Deconvolving the origin of Martian carbon is complex: multiple sources are expected, including exogenous delivery [2], abiotic in situ production [3], and potentially life [1]. Post depositional alteration via ionizing cosmic radiation and UV can complicate the signal [4]. Photochemical reactions can destroy, transform, or synthesize organics; radiolysis rates vary by molecule, functional group, and mineral associations [5]. Meteoritic organics are well-understood on Earth [2], but their evolution on Mars has not been constrained: characterizing UV alteration of exogenous organics is key to deconvolving the abiotic background for Mars life detection, especially compared to cosmic radiation, which alters organics differently [4,5]. Toward this goal, we exposed powdered Aguas Zarcas (AZ) meteorite and SiO2 blanks to Mars-like UV under analog conditions in the Planetary Atmospheres Chamber (PAC) [6] for ~100 sols equivalent.