In situ identification of the Martian surface material and its interaction with the Martian atmosphere using DTA/GC

Little is known about the mineralogy of the martian surface material. Several techniques have been suggested as candidates for the in situ identification of the martian surface material. The most promising of these techniques include differential thermal analysis (DTA) coupled with gas chromatography (GC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) coupled with either mass spectrometry (MS) or GC. Our studies showed that differential thermal analysis coupled with gas chromatography (DTA/GC) is a more appropriate analytical technique than DSC/MS or DSC/GC to identify the mineralogy of the martian surface material in situ. DTA/GC can be regarded as an advancement from pyrolytic GC analyses that were successfully flown on previous missions, but have supplied only limited mineralogical information.