Solar System Exploration: Mars Organic Analysis and Curiosity's SAM Instrument

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Curiosity rover, which incorporates a multi-column gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) used to analyze organic compounds released from rocks. The research involves conducting pyrolysis, GCMS, and derivatization and thermochemolysis studies on terrestrial analogues and Mars mineral and organic simulants using commercial GCMS systems, SAM breadboards, and a high fidelity SAM testbed. The goal is to extend the groundbreaking discoveries of SAM of organics on Mars and contribute to the interpretation of existing data and future data as the Curiosity rover moves further up Mount Sharp in Gale crater.