How TMAH Thermochemolysis can improve the detection of trace organic matter on Mars using the MOMA-Pyr-GC-MS experiment aboard the ExoMars-2020

International audience; The Mars Organic Molecule Ana-lyzer (MOMA) experiment aboard the future ExoMars2020mission will be the continuation of the search for the organic composition of the Mars surface. The mainadvantage of Exomars is that the sample will be ex-tracted as deep as 2 meters belowthemartian surfaceand is expected to be preserved fromtheeffects of ra-diation and oxidation onorganic materials. To analyze the wide range of potential organic composition (vola-tile and non volatilecompounds) of the martian soil,the MOMA instrument utilizes bothUV laser desorp-tion / ionization (LDI) andpyrolysis gas chromatog-raphy ion trap mass spectrometry (pyr-GC-ITMS). In order to analyse refractory organic compounds,and charactize the enantiomeric ratio for the chiral species,the sample can be submittedto a derivatization pro-cess, consisting of the reaction of the sample compo-nents with specific reactantsselected for MOMA.