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The Deuterium to Hydrogen Ratio in the Water that Formed the Yellowknife Bay Mudstones in Gale CraterA suite of isotope ratios of light elements in the present martian atmosphere (13C/12C, 15N/14N, 18O/16O, 38Ar/36Ar, and D/H) are all substantially enriched in the heavy element suggesting atmospheric loss to space over the past billions of years with preferential loss of the lighter isotope from each pair. In situ measurements from MSL's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument [e.g. 1,2,3] have considerably refined previous measurements from the Viking mass spectrometers [e.g. 4], from remote spectroscopic observations [e.g. 5,6], and from martian meteorite studies [e.g. 7,8]. The persistence of habitable environments such as the ancient Yellowknife Bay lake recently revealed by measurements from the Curiosity rover [9] depends on the surface temperatures and the duration of an atmosphere thicker than that at present. Current and planned measurements from orbit with the Mars Express and MAVEN missions respectively intend to study the processes of atmospheric escape including solar wind interaction, sputtering, thermal escape, and dissociative recombination, and determine or refine the current rate of atmospheric loss caused by these and other mechanisms. The goal of these programs is to understand the physical processes sufficiently well so that robust extrapolations over the past billions of years can be made D/H is measured by both the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) and the Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS) of the SAM suite. to predict the atmospheric and surface conditions on early Mars. However, the study of the history of martian atmospheric evolution will be greatly facilitated if we are able to also directly measure the isotopic composition of volatiles captured in rocks that are representative of the ancient atmosphere. To date, D/H is one of the most promising candidates for this study since water is the most abundant volatile thermally released from the Yellowknife Bay phylosilicates discovered by the SAM and CheMin experiments of MSL and its
Document ID
20140005418
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Mahaffy, Paul R. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Brunner, Anna E. (Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Webster, Chris R. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Atreya, Sushil K. (Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Mcadam, Amy Catherine (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Stern, Jennifer Claire (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Leshin, Laurie Ann (Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. Troy, NY, United States)
Navarro-Gonzales, Rafael (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Mexico City, Mexico)
Jones, J. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX United States)
Kashyap, Srishti (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
May 9, 2014
Publication Date
March 17, 2014
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN13536
Meeting Information
Meeting: Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
Country: United States
Start Date: March 17, 2013
End Date: March 21, 2013
Sponsors: Universities Space Research Association
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG06EO90A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Yellowknife Bay
curiosity rover
Deuterium to Hydrogen ratio
Mars
Gale crater

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