Characterization of Organic Compounds Using Moma Flight-Like Instrumentation in Preparation of the Upcoming Exomars Rover Mission

After four decades of Mars exploration, one of the driving questions, if Mars was ever inhabited by some form of life, still remains unanswered. Recently, traces of chlorinated and sulfur-bearing organic compounds were detected in martian soils by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument onboard the Curiosity rover (Freissinet et al., 2015; Eigenbrode et al., 2018). However, it remains unclear if these organic traces can be associated with (microbial) life and further investigations of the martian surface and near subsurface are needed. The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) instrument onboard ESA’s ExoMars rover (launch in 2020) will be searching for potential organic biosignatures in samples from up to 2 m depth (Goesmann et al. 2017; Vago et al., 2017). Analog experiments are an essential prerequisite to appraise analytical limits and support data interpretation for this upcoming mission.