Fluorocarbon Contamination from the Drill on the Mars Science Laboratory: Potential Science Impact on Detecting Martian Organics by Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE or trade name: Teflon by Dupont Co.) has been detected in rocks drilled during terrestrial testing of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) drilling hardware. The PTFE in sediments is a wear product of the seals used in the Drill Bit Assemblies (DBAs). It is expected that the drill assembly on the MSL flight model will also shed Teflon particles into drilled samples. One of the primary goals of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on MSL is to test for the presence of martian organics in samples. Complications introduced by the potential presence of PTFE in drilled samples to the SAM evolved gas analysis (EGA or pyrolysisquadrupole mass spectrometry, pyr-QMS) and pyrolysis- gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Pyr- GCMS) experiments was investigated.