EUROGEOMARS FIELD CAMPAIGN: SAMPLE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIC MATTER & MINERALS

A strategic search for life on Mars re- quires a thorough interdisciplinary preparation phase that includes the optimization of sample analysis tech- niques, instrument development and calibration and extensive terrestrial field tests at Mars analog sites. In this paper, we report on the results of chemical, physi- cal and astrobiological measurements of samples col- lected during the EuroGeoMars campaign at Utah Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in February 2009 (see Figure 1). EuroGeoMars MDRS campaign: The goal of the EuroGeoMars campaign (from 24 January to 28 Feb- ruary 2009) sponsored by ESA, NASA and ILEWG (1) was to demonstrate instruments from the ExoGeo- Lab pilot project (2), support the interpretation of on- going planetary missions, validate a procedure for Martian surface in-situ and return science, and study human performance aspects (3). Several science and exploration instruments were either brought from Europe or by US collaborators. Geology: drilling equipment, Ground Penetrating Ra- dar (GPR), Raman Spectrometer, Visible Near Infrared Spectrometer (VIS/NIR), Magnetic Susceptibility Me- ter (all lent by NASA-Ames), X-ray Diffractometer/X- ray Fluorescence Meter (XRD/XRF) (by inXitu Co), sampling collection and curation, scientific and HDTV cameras for field and lab studies (lent by ESTEC ExoGeoLab), installation of geochemical lab Engineering supporting projects: Rover (lent by Car- negie Mellon Univ.); Enhanced Cyborg field reporting capability, Mars navigation experiment preparation; Visualization tests for rover, camera system and image data for outreach