Assessment of Raman spectroscopy as a tool for the non-destructive identification of organic minerals and biomolecules for Mars studies
Abstract
As part of the Pasteur suite of analytical instrumentation on ExoMars, the Raman/LIBS instrument will seek elemental and molecular information about geological, biological and biogeological markers in the Martian record. A key series of experiments on terrestrial Mars analogues, of which this paper addresses a particularly important series of compounds, is required to obtain the Raman spectra of key molecules and crystals, which are characteristic for each biomarker.
Here, we present Raman spectra of several examples of organic compounds which have been recorded non-destructively-higher n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carotenoids, salts of organic acids, pure crystalline terpenes as well as oxygen-containing organic compounds. In addition, the lower limit of beta-carotene detection in sulphate matrices using Raman microspectroscopy was estimated.