An icy mineralogy package (IMP) for in-situ studies of Titan’s surface |
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Authors: | A Dominic Fortes Ian G Wood David P Dobson Paul F Fewster |
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Institution: | 1. The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK;2. Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK;3. PANalytical Research Centre, The Sussex Innovation Centre, Brighton BN1 9SB, UK |
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Abstract: | We describe the scientific case for and preliminary design of an instrument whose primary goal is to determine the chemistry (element abundance) and mineralogy (compound identity and abundance) of Titan’s surface using a combination of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD is capable of identifying any crystalline substance present on Titan’s surface at relative abundances greater than ∼1 wt%, allowing unambiguous identification of, for example, structure I and II clathrates (even in the presence of ice), and various organic solids, which may include C2H2, C2H4, C4H2, HCN, CH3CN, HC3N, and C4N2). The XRF component of the instrument will obtain elemental abundances for 16 < Z < 60 with minimum detection limits better than 10 ppm (including detection of atmospheric noble gas isotopes), and may achieve detection limits of 0.01–1% for lighter elements down to Z = 6 (carbon). The instrument is well suited to integration with other analytical tools as part of a light-weight surface chemistry and mineralogy package. Although considerably less sensitive to elemental abundance than GC–MS (10−2 vs. 10−8) it is likely to be significantly lighter (<0.5 kg vs. 10 kg). |
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Keywords: | Titan Mineralogy X-ray diffraction X-ray fluorescence |
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