NAI
2009 Annual Science Report
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Titan
Reporting | JUL 2008 – AUG 2009
Task 3.3 Solubility of Organics in Methane
Project Summary
Liquid methane can serve as a solvent medium in which organic chemistry may occur in sites on the Titan surface.
Project Progress
Co-Investigator Robert Hodyss has designed and constructed a mass spectrometer system for the measurement of solutes in liquid methane/ethane. The system is shown in Figure 1. Briefly, a quadrupole mass spectrometer (SRS 200) in a small vacuum chamber is used to sample liquids through a capillary into the mass spectrometer. When measuring hydrocarbon solutions, the capillary is immersed in the hydrocarbon solution. Liquid drawn into the capillary rapidly vaporizes and is analyzed with the mass spectrometer. The system has been calibrated and checked for linearity with rare gas/methane gas mixtures, and experiments on liquid solutions of these will begin soon.
Figure 1. Mass spectrometer system for determining the solubility of organics and rare gases in liquid hydrocarbons. Solutions are drawn through the capillary tubing on the left, vaporized and then analyzed with the mass spectrometer (right).
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PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
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RELATED OBJECTIVES:
Objective 1.1
Formation and evolution of habitable planets.
Objective 2.2
Outer Solar System exploration
Objective 3.1
Sources of prebiotic materials and catalysts
Objective 3.2
Origins and evolution of functional biomolecules
Objective 3.3
Origins of energy transduction
