On the ability of the Viking gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer to detect organic matter

2007/06/04 by K. Biemann · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Chemistry · #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Mass Spectrometry Techniques and Applications #Radioactive contamination and transfer

paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.0703732104

openalex publication_date 2007/06/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

A recent paper by Navarro-Gonzalez et al. [Navarro-Gonzalez R, Navarro KF, de la Rosa J, Iniguez E, Molina P, Miranda LD, Morales P, Cienfuegos E, Coll P, Raulin F, et al. (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:16089-16094] claims to show that the Viking GCMS (gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer) experiment, which carried out a search for organic matter at the surface of Mars in 1976, "may have been blind to low levels of organics." To rebut this assertion, the Viking experiment, test data, and results on Mars are reviewed, and the fallacies in the design, execution, and interpretation of the new experiments presented by Navarro-Gonzalez et al. are critically examined.

Citations

• The Viking Biological Investigation: Preliminary Results
• Search for Organic and Volatile Inorganic Compounds in Two Surface Samples from the Chryse Planitia Region of Mars
• The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization–gas chromatography–MS and their implications for the Viking results

Cited by

• The Astrobiology Primer v2.0
• Preservation of Martian Organic and Environmental Records: Final Report of the Mars Biosignature Working Group
• Life on Mars [wikipedia]