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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Differential Mobility Spectrometry on the ISS: Successes and Current Concerns

With the construction of the International Space Station (ISS), crew members moved from the relatively short flights of the Space Shuttle (~ 2 weeks) to missions lasting months to a year. As such, environmental monitoring needs also changed, transitioning from a reliance on archival sampling to a combination of archival sampling and in-flight data collection. In the case of trace volatile organic compound (VOC) monitoring, this in-flight monitoring was performed early on by the Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA), a gas chromatograph-ion mobility spectrometer, which operated on the ISS for 7 years. This large, fixed-position analyzer was replaced by Air Quality Monitors (AQMs), a pair of small gas chromatograph-differential mobility spectrometers, in the spring of 2013. During their initial half decade of use, and covering multiple sets of units, the AQMs performed well, meeting all of their validation criteria and generally showing excellent accuracy when compared to the now-reduced archival samples. These instruments were also used to perform a survey of the US Operating Segment (US Lab Module, European Columbus Module, and Japanese Pressurized Module), confirming that the atmosphere in this segment is well-mixed. The AQMs were also able to provide important information in contingency situations, such as confirming that no ammonia was present on the ISS following alarms suggesting that the coolant loops had leaked in January 2015. As the fleet of AQMs has aged, though, issues of concern have arisen. These have ranged from pervasive electronics board problems to loss of sensitivity due to carbon dioxide to incorrect identification of compounds. Some of these issues are unavoidable due to the nature of the AQM’s use and preparation prior to flight. However, with the extension of the ISS to 2030 (well past its original 2024 lifetime), the fleet of AQMs will be asked to perform longer, requiring solutions to some of the inherent problems. In this presentation, we will discuss the history of the AQM on the ISS with a focus on more recent results. These results show both the continued usefulness of the AQM for atmospheric monitoring and also the current concerns, including: 1) the incorrect identification of benzene, 2) reporting of elevated isopropanol concentrations, and 3) the loss of the reactant ion peak (RIP) that must be resolved in order for the instrument to continue to serve as the primary trace VOC monitor on the ISS.

W T Wallace↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Differential Mobility Spectrometry on the ISS: Successes and Current Concerns

With the construction of the International Space Station (ISS), crew members moved from the relatively short flights of the Space Shuttle (~ 2 weeks) to missions lasting months to a year. As such, environmental monitoring needs also changed, transitioning from a reliance on archival sampling to a combination of archival sampling and in-flight data collection. In the case of trace volatile organic compound (VOC) monitoring, this in-flight monitoring was performed early on by the Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA), a gas chromatograph-ion mobility spectrometer, which operated on the ISS for 7 years. This large, fixed-position analyzer was replaced by Air Quality Monitors (AQMs), a pair of small gas chromatograph-differential mobility spectrometers, in the spring of 2013. During their initial half decade of use, and covering multiple sets of units, the AQMs performed well, meeting all of their validation criteria and generally showing excellent accuracy when compared to the now-reduced archival samples. These instruments were also used to perform a survey of the US Operating Segment (US Lab Module, European Columbus Module, and Japanese Pressurized Module), confirming that the atmosphere in this segment is well-mixed. The AQMs were also able to provide important information in contingency situations, such as confirming that no ammonia was present on the ISS following alarms suggesting that the coolant loops had leaked in January 2015. As the fleet of AQMs has aged, though, issues of concern have arisen. These have ranged from pervasive electronics board problems to loss of sensitivity due to carbon dioxide to incorrect identification of compounds. Some of these issues are unavoidable due to the nature of the AQM’s use and preparation prior to flight. However, with the extension of the ISS to 2030 (well past its original 2024 lifetime), the fleet of AQMs will be asked to perform longer, requiring solutions to some of the inherent problems. In this presentation, we will discuss the history of the AQM on the ISS with a focus on more recent results. These results show both the continued usefulness of the AQM for atmospheric monitoring and also the current concerns, including: 1) the incorrect identification of benzene, 2) reporting of elevated isopropanol concentrations, and 3) the loss of the reactant ion peak (RIP) that must be resolved in order for the instrument to continue to serve as the primary trace VOC monitor on the ISS.

William T. Wallace↗
NASA NTRS2022

Contractors Road Heavy Equipment Area (SWMU 055) 2021 Annual Groundwater Monitoring Report

This document presents a summary of activities completed at the Contractors Road Heavy Equipment (CRHE) Area, located at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, from January through December 2021. The activities conducted at the CRHE Area include: - Annual groundwater sampling activities associated with site-wide plume monitoring and Underground Injection Control (UIC) monitoring in the former bioremediation Interim Measures (IM) Hot Spot 1 (HS1) area; - Direct push technology (DPT) groundwater investigation; and - Semi-annual vapor intrusion (VI) evaluation activities. This facility is designated Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) Number 055 (SWMU 055) under KSC’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Corrective Action program. This report was prepared by HydroGeoLogic, Inc. (HGL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under contract number 80KSC019F0096. The annual groundwater sampling results demonstrated that the footprint where chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOC) are present above their State of Florida groundwater cleanup target levels (GCTLs) is not expanding overall. One non-chlorinated VOC (1,4-dioxane) is found above its GCTL at isolated points within the chlorinated VOC plume. The DPT groundwater investigation is being used to delineate the horizontal and vertical boundaries where chlorinated VOCs are present at levels above natural attenuation default concentrations. That data supports an evaluation of potential additional remedial actions. The potential for VI into the CRHE Area Office (K6-1996H) is evaluated by collected sub-slab vapor samples from four locations twice a year (once in the wet season and once in the dry season). The results for 2021 were all below the Environmental Protection Agency's vapor intrusion screening levels (VISLs) for both commercial and residential settings. The path forward for the site is to continue annual monitoring for chlorinated VOCs and 1,4-dioxane until additional remedies are implemented or the site is transitioned to long-term monitoring.

Contractors Road Heavy Equipment↗
NASA NTRS2017

Airborne Measurements of Western U.S. Wildfire Emissions: Comparison with Prescribed Burning and Air Quality Implications

Wildfires emit significant amounts of pollutants that degrade air quality. Plumes from three wildfires in the western U.S. were measured from aircraft during the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) and the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP), both in summer 2013. This study reports an extensive set of emission factors (EFs) for over 80 gases and 5 components of submicron particulate matter (PM1) from these temperate wildfires. These include rarely, or never before, measured oxygenated volatile organic compounds and multifunctional organic nitrates. The observed EFs are compared with previous measurements of temperate wildfires, boreal forest fires, and temperate prescribed fires. The wildfires emitted high amounts of PM1 (with organic aerosol (OA) dominating the mass) with an average EF that is more than 2 times the EFs for prescribed fires. The measured EFs were used to estimate the annual wildfire emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, total non methane organic compounds, and PM1 from 11 western U.S. states. The estimated gas emissions are generally comparable with the 2011 National Emissions Inventory (NEI). However, our PM1 emission estimate (1530 +/- 570 Gg/yr) is over 3 times that of the NEI PM2.5 estimate and is also higher than the PM2.5 emitted from all other sources in these states in the NEI. This study indicates that the source of OA from biomass burning in the western states is significantly underestimated. In addition, our results indicate that prescribed burning may be an effective method to reduce fine particle emissions.

measured oxygenated volatile organic compounds↗
NASA NTRS2021

Climate-driven Chemistry and Aerosol Feedbacks in CMIP6 Earth System Models

Feedbacks play a fundamental role in determining the magnitude of the response of the climate system to external forcing, such as from anthropogenic emissions. The latest generation of Earth system models includes aerosol and chemistry components that interact with each other and with the biosphere. These interactions introduce a complex web of feedbacks that is important to understand and quantify. This paper addresses multiple pathways for aerosol and chemical feedbacks in Earth system models. These focus on changes in natural emissions (dust, sea salt, dimethyl sulfide, biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and lightning) and changes in reaction rates for methane and ozone chemistry. The feedback terms are then given by the sensitivity of a pathway to climate change multiplied by the radiative effect of the change. We find that the overall climate feedback through chemistry and aerosols is negative in the sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) Earth system models due to increased negative forcing from aerosols in a climate with warmer surface temperatures following a quadrupling of CO2 concentrations. This is principally due to increased emissions of sea salt and BVOCs which are sensitive to climate change and cause strong negative radiative forcings. Increased chemical loss of ozone and methane also contributes to a negative feedback. However, overall methane lifetime is expected to increase in a warmer climate due to increased BVOCs. Increased emissions of methane from wetlands would also offset some of the negative feedbacks. The CMIP6 experimental design did not allow the methane lifetime or methane emission changes to affect climate, so we found a robust negative contribution from interactive aerosols and chemistry to climate sensitivity in CMIP6 Earth system models.

Aerosol feedbacks↗
NASA NTRS2024

Assessing Acetone for the GISS ModelE2.1 Earth System Model

Acetone is an abundant volatile organic compound (VOC) in the atmosphere, with important influences on ozone and oxidation capacity. Direct sources include chemical production from other VOCs and anthropogenic emissions, terrestrial vegetation, biomass-burning emissions, and ocean production. Sinks include chemical loss, deposition onto the land surface, and ocean uptake. Acetone also has a lifetime that is long enough to allow transport and reactions with other compounds remote from its sources. The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Earth system model ModelE2.1 simulates a variety of Earth system interactions. Previously, acetone had a very simplistic representation in the ModelE chemical scheme. This study assesses a more sophisticated acetone scheme in which acetone is a full 3-dimensional tracer with explicit sources, sinks, and atmospheric transport. We first evaluate the new global acetone budget in the context of past literature. Estimated source and sink fluxes fall within the range of previous models, although total atmospheric burden and lifetime are at the lower end of the published literature. Acetone's new representation in ModelE2.1 also results in more realistic spatial and vertical distributions, which we compare against previous models and field observations. The seasonality of acetone-related processes was also studied in conjunction with field measurements, and these comparisons show promising agreement but also shortcomings at high-emission urban locations, where the model's resolution is too coarse to capture the true behavior. Finally, we conduct a variety of sensitivity studies that explore the influence of key parameters on the acetone budget and its global distribution. An impactful finding is that the production of acetone from precursor hydrocarbon oxidation has strong leverage on the overall chemical source, indicating the importance of accurate molar yields. Overall, our implementation is one that corroborates with previous studies and marks a significant improvement in the development of the acetone tracer in GISS ModelE2.1.

Acetone↗
NASA NTRS1992

The development and testing of a volatile organics concentrator for use in monitoring Space Station water quality

The Volatile Organics Concentrator (VOC) system, designed to attach to a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) for the analyses of volatile organic compounds in water on Space Station Freedom, is described. Organic volatiles are collected and concentrated in the VOC by means of two primary solid sorbent tubes and desorbed into the GC/MS system. The paper describes the results of testing the VOC breadboard using a GC/MS system. Evaluations performed on 39 organic compounds recovered from water samples were compared with data for these compounds using direct injection/GC/MS and purge and trap/GC/MS procedures. The results demonstrate that the VOC/GC/MS system's detection limits for the 39 compounds analyzed are comparable to those of the EPA Method 524.2, and for many compounds reaching a factor of 5 lower.

Bodek, Itamar↗
NASA NTRS1997

Fungal colonization of air filters and insulation in a multi-story office building: production of volatile organics

Secondary air filters in the air-handling units on four floors of a multi-story office building with a history of fungal colonization of insulation within the air distribution system were examined for the presence of growing fungi and production of volatile organic compounds. Fungal mycelium and conidia of Cladosporium and Penicillium spp. were observed on insulation from all floors and both sides of the air filters from one floor. Lower concentrations of volatile organics were released from air filter medium colonized with fungi as compared with noncolonized filter medium. However, the volatiles from the colonized filter medium included fungal metabolites such as acetone and a carbonyl sulfide-like compound that were not released from noncolonized filter medium. The growth of fungi in air distribution systems may affect the content of volatile organics in indoor air.

NASA Discipline Environmental Health↗
NASA NTRS1973

Monitoring systems for evaluation of terrestrial contamination in a lunar sample transfer facility

The lunar sample transfer facility used consists of two tandem glove boxes and an entrance vacuum antechamber. Monitoring systems were used to evaluate the contamination levels of water, permanent gases, and lower volatility organic compounds in the glove box atmosphere. The experimental procedures are considered, taking into account the glove box atmosphere, aspects of volatile gas analysis, and lower volatility organic contaminants. The value of high resolution mass spectrometry in the monitoring scheme is illustrated with the aid of an example.

Wszolek, P. C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A volatile organics concentrator for use in monitoring Space Station water quality

The process used to identify, select, and design an approach to the isolation and concentration of volatile organic compounds from a water sample prior to chemical analysis in a microgravity environment is discerned. The trade analysis leading to the recommended volatile organics concentrator (VOC) concept to be tested in a breadboard device is presented. The system covers the areas of gases, volatile separation from water, and water removal/gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer interface. Five options for potential use in the VOC and GC/MS system are identified and ranked, and also nine options are presented for separation of volatiles from the water phase. Seven options for use in the water removal/GC column and MS interface are also identified and included in the overall considerations. A final overall recommendation for breadboard VOC testing is given.

Ehntholt, Daniel J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Abiotic formation of hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds during thermal decomposition of iron oxalate

The formation of organic compounds during the decomposition of iron oxalate dihydrate (IOD) was investigated as a possible analog for abiotic organic synthesis in geological systems. After heating at 330 degrees C for 2-4 days, IOD decomposed to a mixture of the minerals siderite and magnetite plus gas and non-volatile organic compounds. The organic products included an extremely large variety of compounds, making identification of individual reaction products difficult. However, the non-volatile products were dominated by several homologous series of alkylated cyclic compounds mostly containing a single aromatic ring, including alkylphenols, alkylbenzenes, alkyltetrahydronaphthols, and alkyltetrahydronaphthalenes. Traces of n-alkanols, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanones, and n-alkanes were also identified. Carbon in the gas phase was predominantly CO2 (+CO?), with lesser amounts of light hydrocarbons to > C6 including all possible branched and normal isomers of the alkanes and alkenes. The organic products were apparently the result of two concurrent reaction processes: (1) condensation of the two-carbon units present in the initial oxalate moiety, and (2) Fischer-Tropsch-type synthesis from CO2 or CO generated during the experiment. Compounds produced by the former process may not be characteristic of synthesis from the single-carbon precursors which predominate in geologic systems, suggesting iron oxalate decomposition may not provide a particularly suitable analog for investigation of abiotic organic synthesis. When water was included in the reaction vessels, CO2 and traces of methane and light hydrocarbon gases were the only carbon products observed (other than siderite), suggesting that the presence of water allowed the system to proceed rapidly towards equilibrium and precluded the formation of metastable organic intermediates.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2015

MATRIX-VBS Condensing Organic Aerosols in an Aerosol Microphysics Model

The condensation of organic aerosols is represented in a newly developed box-model scheme, where its effect on the growth and composition of particles are examined. We implemented the volatility-basis set (VBS) framework into the aerosol mixing state resolving microphysical scheme Multiconfiguration Aerosol TRacker of mIXing state (MATRIX). This new scheme is unique and advances the representation of organic aerosols in models in that, contrary to the traditional treatment of organic aerosols as non-volatile in most climate models and in the original version of MATRIX, this new scheme treats them as semi-volatile. Such treatment is important because low-volatility organics contribute significantly to the growth of particles. The new scheme includes several classes of semi-volatile organic compounds from the VBS framework that can partition among aerosol populations in MATRIX, thus representing the growth of particles via condensation of low volatility organic vapors. Results from test cases representing Mexico City and a Finish forrest condistions show good representation of the time evolutions of concentration for VBS species in the gas phase and in the condensed particulate phase. Emitted semi-volatile primary organic aerosols evaporate almost completely in the high volatile range, and they condense more efficiently in the low volatility range.

Aerosols↗
NASA NTRS1999

A Second-Generation Volatile Organic Analyzer for the International Space Station

Early in the development of the Crew Health Care System (CHECS) for the International Space Station (ISS), it was recognized that detection of target volatile organic compounds would be a key component of the air monitoring strategy. Experiences during the NASA/Mir program supported the decision to include a real-time volatile organic analyzer (VOA) aboard ISS to help assess the impact of air quality events on crew health and determine the effectiveness of decontamination efforts. Toward this end, a joint development by the Toxicology Laboratory at Johnson Space Center and Graseby Dynamics produced a VOA that has been delivered and is ready for the first 5 years of ISS operation. The first-generation VOA selection criteria included minimizing size, weight, and power consumption while maintaining analytical performance. Measuring available technologies against these criteria, a VOA system based upon gas chromatography/ion mobility spectrometry (GC/IMS) was selected in the mid-90's. However, as NASA looks forward to later-stage ISS operations and to new frontiers such as human exploration of Mars, the ISS VOA (weighing 43 kg and consuming 160 watts) must be replaced by a smaller, less resource-intensive device. This paper will present a possible second-gene ration VOA based upon the same technology as the first-generation unit. Utilizing GC/IMS technology again will permit the instrumental data and experience gained during the initial phase of ISS to be applied to later ISS phases and advanced spacecraft missions. During the past 3 years, efforts to reduce the size of ion mobility spectrometers have been pursued by Graseby Dynamics, the manufacturer of the first-generation VOA. The concept of operation, expected analytical performance, and estimated size of a fully functional second-generation VOA based upon GC/mini-IMS technology will be presented. Furthermore, results of initial laboratory evaluations will be shown.

Limero, Thomas↗
NASA NTRS2006

Flight Data Update on Long-Term Compound Stability in Dual Sorbent Tubes

Dual Sorbent Tubes (DSTs) are currently the primary method for collecting volatile organic compounds in the cabin air of the International Space Station (ISS). Data from groundbased analysis of these archival air samplers provide a major component of the assessment of ISS air quality by the NASA toxicologist. At the 2005 ICES conference data from the positive control DSTs, returned on Soyuz 7S and 8S, were presented. Positive control tubes are dosed, preflight, with known concentrations of representative contaminant compounds and they are launched to ISS in the DST kit as trip controls. Upon return of the DST kit to the ground, results from analysis of the trip (positive) and laboratory control tubes are used to determine the recoveries: concentration of dosed compounds retained in the tube. Results from positive controls, returned on 7S and 8S showed substantial losses of some compounds dosed into the tubes 156 to 240 days prior to the analysis. Low recoveries are expected for spacecraft air contaminants with similar properties to the poorly recovered dosed compounds. It was shown that compound losses in the control tubes were consistent, which led to the generation of acceptable correction factors for spacecraft air contaminants. Correction factors decrease the accuracy of derived compound concentrations and substantial error could arise under some conditions. An investigation into the mechanism for compound loss is necessary before design modifications can be implemented to improve the DST performance. This paper will update results from the DSTs returned on Soyuz 9S and 10S missions during the latter part of 2005. The data acquired from these returned DSTs will be compared to the 7S and 8S data presented last year. Discussion will focus on the reliability of correction factors and identify any trends in the data. This paper will describe the experimental design and plans to identify the compound loss mechanism.

James, John T.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Mechanism of transport and distribution of organic solvents in blood

Little is known about the mechanism of transport and distribution of volatile organic compounds in blood. Studies were conducted on five typical organic solvents to investigate how these compounds are transported and distributed in blood. Groups of four to five rats were exposed for 2 hr to 500 ppm of n-hexane, toluene, chloroform, methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), or diethyl ether vapor; 94, 66, 90, 51, or 49%, respectively, of these solvents in the blood were found in the red blood cells (RBCs). Very similar results were obtained in vitro when aqueous solutions of these solvents were added to rat blood. In vitro studies were also conducted on human blood with these solvents; 66, 43, 65, 49, or 46%, respectively, of the added solvent was taken up by the RBCs. These results indicate that RBCs from humans and rats exhibited substantial differences in affinity for the three more hydrophobic solvents studied. When solutions of these solvents were added to human plasma and RBC samples, large fractions (51-96%) of the solvents were recovered from ammonium sulfate-precipitated plasma proteins and hemoglobin. Smaller fractions were recovered from plasma water and red cell water. Less than 10% of each of the added solvents in RBC samples was found in the red cell membrane ghosts. These results indicate that RBCs play an important role in the uptake and transport of these solvents. Proteins, chiefly hemoglobin, are the major carriers of these compounds in blood. It can be inferred from the results of the present study that volatile lipophilic organic solvents are probably taken up by the hydrophobic sites of blood proteins.

Solvents/administration & dosage/metabolism/pharma↗
NASA NTRS2008

Oxidation-reduction catalyst and its process of use

This invention relates generally to a ruthenium stabilized oxidation-reduction catalyst useful for oxidizing carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, and reducing nitrogen oxide species in oxidizing environments, substantially without the formation of toxic and volatile ruthenium oxide species upon said oxidizing environment being at high temperatures.

Jordan, Jeffrey D.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Investigating Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Glovebox and Support Components Compared to Custom Curatorial Laboratories

There is a need envisioned to investigate the application of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems as tools that could be used within commercial preliminary curation as the expected space economy is supported and begins to take flight. NASA is involved with supporting and developing the space economy [1] and therefore it’s feasible that at some point, a commercial space company would bring back materials and either store initially, or permanently, within COTS equipment as a stand-in for custom curation laboratories. While utilizing opportunities to explore this capability at NASA-Johnson Space Center (JSC) during the establishment of other laboratories [2] it was realized that cleanliness and/or other properties could be evaluated for these COTS systems during their installation in advanced research facilities that are not ISO-class rated clean rooms. Several aspects of a COTS-Curation system were explored including various gloves for curation manipulation within a negative pressure glovebox (Fig.1), Balazs organic and inorganic contaminant levels testing prior to glovebox ever being used, mode swapping comparison of recirculation vs. single pass, constant monitoring of oxygen (O2) and moisture (H2O) levels in various conditions, etc. To acquire inorganic and organic compound loads inside the glovebox, Balazs wafer testing and gas sampling were implemented. These are standardized analytical tests provided by Balazs™ NanoAnalysis, a division of Air Liquide USA. Deployment of 8-inch silicon wafer witness plates for 24-hours in an undisturbed environment capture the organic compound load and inorganic trace metal contents which can be obtained by Vapor Phase Decomposition Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (VPD ICP-MS). Balazs gas sample analysis was also performed for better measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in glovebox air analyzed by Thermal Desorption Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (TD GC-MS). These analytical testings were carried out in a controlled ultra high pure (UHP) gaseous nitrogen (N2)-purged environment where oxygen and moisture contents were continuously monitored at certain temperature and pressure. The preliminary outcomes of these testings are promising. The COTS systems appear to maintain the steady-state controlled environment for days, if not weeks, with uninterrupted gaseous N2-supply which was operated from a standard medium pressure LN2 250L 230L dewar, exchanged as needed. The outgassing load can be maintained by selecting the glove materials that have the least outgassing and particle shedding performances. Further experiments will be considered to validate the preliminary findings. While this project is exploratory, it is not intended as an endorsement by NASA Curation for approved materials or usage for advanced curatorial activities. NASA does not endorse nor promote any one particular product or company. References: [1] McCubbin F. M. et al. (2019) Space Science Reviews 215:A48. [2] Lewis, E.K. et. al (2024) LPSC LV, Abstract #2457.

Curation↗
NASA NTRS2004

Detecting Organic Compounds in Martian Soil Analogues Using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

One of the primary objectives of the 1976 Viking missions was to determine whether organic compounds, possibly of biological origin, were present in the Martian surface soils. The Viking gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) instruments found no evidence for any organic compounds of Martian origin above a few parts per billion in the upper 10 cm of surface soil [l], suggesting the absence of a widely distributed Martian biota. However, Benner et d. have suggested that significant amounts of non-volatile organic compounds, possibly including oxidation products of bioorganic molecules (e.g. carboxylic acids) would not have been detected by the Viking GCMS [2]. Moreover, other key organic compounds important to biology, such as amino acids and nucleobases, would also likely have been missed by the Viking GCMS as these compounds require chemical derivatization to be stable in a GC column [3]. Recent pyrolysis experiments with a Mars soil analogue that had been innoculated with Escherichia coli bacteria have shown that amino acid decomposition products (amines) and nucleobases are among the most abundant products generated after pyrolysis of the bacterial cells [4,5]. At the part per billion level (Viking GCMS detection limit), these pyrolysis products generated from several million bacterial cells per gram of Martian soil would not have been detected by the Viking GCMS instruments [4]. Analytical protocols are under development for upcoming in situ lander opportunities to target several important biological compounds including amino acids and nucleobases. For example, extraction and chemical derivatization techniques [3] are being adapted for space flight use to transform reactive or fragile molecules that would not have been detected by the Viking GCMS instruments, into species that are sufficiently volatile to be detected by GCMS. Recent experiments carried out at NASA Goddard have shown that using this derivatization technique all of the targeted compounds mentioned above can be separated on a GC column and detected by MS at sub-picomole (< 10(exp -l2 mole) levels. With these methods, the detection limit for amino acids, carboxylic acids and nucleobases is several orders of magnitude more sensitive than the Viking GCMS instruments for these compounds. Preliminary results using this analytical technique on a variety of Martian soil analogues will be presented.

Glavin, D. P.↗