VAPoR - Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith - an instrument for in situ detection of water, noble gases, and organics on the Moon

I. L. ten Kate; E. H. Cardiff; J. P. Dworkin; S. H. Feng; V. Holmes; C. Malespin; J. G. Stern; T. D. Swindle; D. P. Glavin

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2010.03.006

VAPoR - Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith - an instrument for in situ detection of water, noble gases, and organics on the Moon

I. L. ten Kate, E. H. Cardiff, J. P. Dworkin, S. H. Feng, V. Holmes, C. Malespin, J. G. Stern, T. D. Swindle, D. P. Glavin

Arizona Space Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR) instrument design and demonstrate the validity of an in situ pyrolysis mass spectrometer for evolved gas analyses of lunar and planetary regolith samples. In situ evolved gas analyses of the lunar regolith have not yet been carried out and no atmospheric or evolved gas measurements have been made at the lunar poles. VAPoR is designed to do both kinds of measurements, is currently under development at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and will be able to heat powdered regolith samples or rock drill fines up to 1400 °C in vacuo. To validate the instrument concept, evolved gas species released from different planetary analogs were determined as a function of temperature using a laboratory breadboard. Evolved gas measurements of an Apollo 16 regolith sample and a fragment of the carbonaceous meteorite Murchison were made by VAPoR and our results compared with existing data. The results imply that in situ evolved gas measurements of the lunar regolith at the polar regions by VAPoR will be a very powerful tool for identifying water and other volatile signatures of lunar or exogenous origin as potential resources for future human exploration.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1007-1017
Number of pages	11
Journal	Planetary and Space Science
Volume	58
Issue number	7-8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2010.03.006
State	Published - Jun 2010

Keywords

Evolved Gas Analysis
Lunar Regolith
Lunar Volatiles
Lunar Water-Ice
Mass Spectrometer

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1016/j.pss.2010.03.006

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ten Kate, I. L., Cardiff, E. H., Dworkin, J. P., Feng, S. H., Holmes, V., Malespin, C., Stern, J. G., Swindle, T. D., & Glavin, D. P. (2010). VAPoR - Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith - an instrument for in situ detection of water, noble gases, and organics on the Moon. Planetary and Space Science, 58(7-8), 1007-1017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2010.03.006

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title = "VAPoR - Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith - an instrument for in situ detection of water, noble gases, and organics on the Moon",

abstract = "We present the Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR) instrument design and demonstrate the validity of an in situ pyrolysis mass spectrometer for evolved gas analyses of lunar and planetary regolith samples. In situ evolved gas analyses of the lunar regolith have not yet been carried out and no atmospheric or evolved gas measurements have been made at the lunar poles. VAPoR is designed to do both kinds of measurements, is currently under development at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and will be able to heat powdered regolith samples or rock drill fines up to 1400 °C in vacuo. To validate the instrument concept, evolved gas species released from different planetary analogs were determined as a function of temperature using a laboratory breadboard. Evolved gas measurements of an Apollo 16 regolith sample and a fragment of the carbonaceous meteorite Murchison were made by VAPoR and our results compared with existing data. The results imply that in situ evolved gas measurements of the lunar regolith at the polar regions by VAPoR will be a very powerful tool for identifying water and other volatile signatures of lunar or exogenous origin as potential resources for future human exploration.",

keywords = "Evolved Gas Analysis, Lunar Regolith, Lunar Volatiles, Lunar Water-Ice, Mass Spectrometer",

author = "{ten Kate}, {I. L.} and Cardiff, {E. H.} and Dworkin, {J. P.} and Feng, {S. H.} and V. Holmes and C. Malespin and Stern, {J. G.} and Swindle, {T. D.} and Glavin, {D. P.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors thank P. Lowman, T. McCoy, L. Welzenbach, and G. Lofgren for the samples used in this study. The authors also thank Marvin Noreiga and the late Bob Abell for their invaluable help in keeping the VAPoR instrument running, Geronimo Villanueva for his help with the IDL code used to analyze the data, and Bart Hendriks and Douwe van Hinsbergen for their geological discussions. We also recognize the NASA Lunar Sortie Science Opportunities (grant #06-LSSO06-0002) and Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development (grant #07-ASTID07-0020 ) programs, Goddard Internal Research and Development funding for supporting this research.",

year = "2010",

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doi = "10.1016/j.pss.2010.03.006",

language = "English (US)",

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AU - ten Kate, I. L.

AU - Cardiff, E. H.

AU - Dworkin, J. P.

AU - Feng, S. H.

AU - Holmes, V.

AU - Malespin, C.

AU - Stern, J. G.

AU - Swindle, T. D.

AU - Glavin, D. P.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank P. Lowman, T. McCoy, L. Welzenbach, and G. Lofgren for the samples used in this study. The authors also thank Marvin Noreiga and the late Bob Abell for their invaluable help in keeping the VAPoR instrument running, Geronimo Villanueva for his help with the IDL code used to analyze the data, and Bart Hendriks and Douwe van Hinsbergen for their geological discussions. We also recognize the NASA Lunar Sortie Science Opportunities (grant #06-LSSO06-0002) and Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development (grant #07-ASTID07-0020 ) programs, Goddard Internal Research and Development funding for supporting this research.

PY - 2010/6

Y1 - 2010/6

N2 - We present the Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR) instrument design and demonstrate the validity of an in situ pyrolysis mass spectrometer for evolved gas analyses of lunar and planetary regolith samples. In situ evolved gas analyses of the lunar regolith have not yet been carried out and no atmospheric or evolved gas measurements have been made at the lunar poles. VAPoR is designed to do both kinds of measurements, is currently under development at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and will be able to heat powdered regolith samples or rock drill fines up to 1400 °C in vacuo. To validate the instrument concept, evolved gas species released from different planetary analogs were determined as a function of temperature using a laboratory breadboard. Evolved gas measurements of an Apollo 16 regolith sample and a fragment of the carbonaceous meteorite Murchison were made by VAPoR and our results compared with existing data. The results imply that in situ evolved gas measurements of the lunar regolith at the polar regions by VAPoR will be a very powerful tool for identifying water and other volatile signatures of lunar or exogenous origin as potential resources for future human exploration.

AB - We present the Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR) instrument design and demonstrate the validity of an in situ pyrolysis mass spectrometer for evolved gas analyses of lunar and planetary regolith samples. In situ evolved gas analyses of the lunar regolith have not yet been carried out and no atmospheric or evolved gas measurements have been made at the lunar poles. VAPoR is designed to do both kinds of measurements, is currently under development at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and will be able to heat powdered regolith samples or rock drill fines up to 1400 °C in vacuo. To validate the instrument concept, evolved gas species released from different planetary analogs were determined as a function of temperature using a laboratory breadboard. Evolved gas measurements of an Apollo 16 regolith sample and a fragment of the carbonaceous meteorite Murchison were made by VAPoR and our results compared with existing data. The results imply that in situ evolved gas measurements of the lunar regolith at the polar regions by VAPoR will be a very powerful tool for identifying water and other volatile signatures of lunar or exogenous origin as potential resources for future human exploration.

KW - Evolved Gas Analysis

KW - Lunar Regolith

KW - Lunar Volatiles

KW - Lunar Water-Ice

KW - Mass Spectrometer

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VL - 58

SP - 1007

EP - 1017

JO - Planetary and Space Science

JF - Planetary and Space Science

IS - 7-8

ER -

VAPoR - Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith - an instrument for in situ detection of water, noble gases, and organics on the Moon

Abstract

Keywords

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