High-resolution mass spectrometry for rigorous in situ exploration of planets and moons of the Solar system

A significant progress in detection of extraterrestrial organic compounds and potentially habitable regions within the Solar system has been achieved over the last decade. Confirmation of the abundance of liquid water under the surface of the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn and recent detection of phosphine gas in the upper atmosphere of Venus makes a new leap in the search for signatures of life. Previous and some future space missions implement mass spectrometers with relatively low mass resolution (m/Dm < 1000) and require complementary techniques to confirm the chemical composition of samples. At LPC2E, Orbitrapä-based mass spectrometer prototypes are developed which offer mass resolution m/Dm > 50 000 sufficient for unambiguous identification of molecules. In the talk will be reported the proof of concept compact OLYMPIA tests bench and the recent progress in development of the interfaces between solid, liquid and gas phase sampling instruments (sources of ions) with the Orbitrap-based mass spectrometers. High-performance data processing techniques for the Fourier transform mass spectrometry will be also discussed.

Speaker