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Analytical study demonstrates chromatographic separation of chloroalkane enantiomers under Martian rover conditions, highlighting potential biosignature detection on Mars.
The Rosalind Franklin rover of ESA's ExoMars mission, with scheduled launch in 2028, hosts the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) instrument. MOMA is a GC-MS, equipped with an enantioselective capillary column for the separation of chiral molecules. Chirality analysis is an important part of the ExoMars mission as it allows for the determination of whether organic molecules are of biological or nonbiological origin. We present here the first separation of chloroalkane enantiomers. While chiral chlorinated species have been detected on the Martian surface by the SAM instrument onboard the Curiosity rover, no enantiomeric separation has been attempted yet. We show that the resolution of chloroalkane enantiomers is feasible on Mars, and we provide the optimum parameters for MOMA to use.
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Merzougui et al. (2026) studied this question.
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