In situ exploration of solar system bodies: the potentiality of an orbitrap based mass analyser

摘要

Mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical technique that has been employed for years in space exploration to characterise the chemical composition of solar system bodies and their environment. Space exploration is dealing more and more with astrobiology, with a particular interest in environments that could bring information about prebiotic chemistry. Because of the harsh constraints imposed on the space probe instruments, their mass resolution is quite limited compared to laboratory instruments, sometimes leading to significant limitations in the treatment of the data collected with this type of instrumentation. The highest mass-resolving power (m/Dm) currently achieved in space is about 9,000 FWHM (Full Width at Half Maximum) at m/z = 28 with the DFMS (Double-Focusing Mass Spectrometer) of ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis) experiment onboard the current Rosetta cometary mission, dedicated to gas analyses of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko [1]. As m/Dm increases, several new plateaus of chemical information become accessible. Therefore, future in situ solar system exploration missions would significantly benefit from High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS).