Sulfate quantification on Ocean Worlds from frozen sodium sulfate brines
examined by Raman spectroscopy
Abstract
Raman spectroscopy is a promising analytical technique for in situ
characterization of the icy mineral context on the surfaces of Ocean
Worlds. This technique is highly sensitive to the molecular environment
of ice and non-ice constituents, whereby non-destructive measurements
can be conducted without any specific sample preparation. However, the
application of Raman spectroscopy for space exploration remains in its
infancy. Potential in situ Ocean Worlds mission concepts seek a
quantitative assessment of the icy mineralogical context of samples that
would be further analyzed for organic content and possible traces of
biosignatures, which could be satisfied with a Raman spectrometer. To
begin assessing this possibility, the current study aims to evaluate how
well a laboratory Raman instrument can quantify non-ice constituents in
icy materials. Here, we focused on the binary
H2O-Na2SO4 system
because it is relevant to Europa, the materials that form upon freezing
are well-understood, and the freezing behavior is predictable and devoid
of metastable and/or glassy phases that could confound the analyses. We
find that the sulfate-to-water peak area ratio shows a strong linear
correlation with the salt concentration in the starting solution. Local
heterogeneities in mineralogical abundances that likely developed during
freezing of the solutions tend to degrade data precision and
correspondingly increase the uncertainty of the estimated concentration
from measurements conducted on frozen solutions. Future studies are
needed to investigate other systems, include multiple components, and
develop modeling approaches to account for textural and mineralogical
variability in icy materials. Part of this work has been conducted at
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under
contract to NASA. Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.