Measuring Electrical Conductivity to Study the Formation of Brines Under Martian Conditions

Miracle Israel Nazarious; Abhilash Vakkada AU  - Ramachandran; Maria-Paz Zorzano; Javier Martin-Torres

doi:10.3791/61217

Measuring Electrical Conductivity to Study the Formation of Brines Under Martian Conditions

Miracle Israel Nazarious^* (Corresponding Author), Abhilash Vakkada AU - Ramachandran, Maria-Paz Zorzano, Javier Martin-Torres

^*Corresponding author for this work

Planetary Sciences, Geography

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper describes a protocol to design experiments to study the formation of brines under Martian conditions and monitor the process with electrical conductivity measurements. We used the Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) of Habitability: Brines, Irradiation, and Temperature (HABIT)/ExoMars 2022 instrument for the experiment setup but we provide a brief account of constructing a simple and inexpensive electrical conductivity measurement setup. The protocol serves to calibrate the electrical conductivity measurements of the salt deliquescence into brine in a simulated Martian environment. The Martian conditions of temperature (-70 °C to 20 °C), relative humidity (0% to 100%) and pressure (7 - 8 mbar) with carbon-dioxide atmosphere were simulated in the SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber, a facility at the Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. The hydrate form of the known amount of salt accommodated between a pair of electrodes and thus the electrical conductivity measured depends predominantly on its water content and the temperature and relative humidity of the system. Electrical conductivity measurements were carried out at 1 Hz while exposing salts to a continuously increasing relative humidity (to force transitioning through various hydrates) at different Martian temperatures. For demonstration, a day-night cycle at Oxia Planum, Mars (the landing site of ExoMars 2022 mission) was recreated.

Original language	English
Article number	e61217
Number of pages	22
Journal	Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE
Volume	173
Early online date	28 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3791/61217
Publication status	Published - Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments
The HABIT Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) that was used for the experiments was fabricated by Omnisys, Sweden, as part of the HABIT project development, under the supervision of MPZ and JMT, and funded by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). HABIT and BOTTLE are the original ideas of MPZ and JMT. SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber is a Luleå University of Technology facility situated in Luleå, Sweden. The Kempe Foundation
funded the design and fabrication of the SpaceQ chamber. The SpaceQ chamber was manufactured by Kurt J. Lesker Company, U.K., under the supervision of MPZ. MPZ has
been partially funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-104205GB-C21). AVR and JMT acknowledge support from the Wallenberg Foundation.

Keywords

Chemistry
Salts
Deliquescence
Brine formation
Electrical conductivity
Mars simulation
HABIT
SpaceQ chamber
Calibration
ExoMars 2022
Mars exploration

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Copyright © 2021 JoVE Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
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Cite this

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title = "Measuring Electrical Conductivity to Study the Formation of Brines Under Martian Conditions",

abstract = "This paper describes a protocol to design experiments to study the formation of brines under Martian conditions and monitor the process with electrical conductivity measurements. We used the Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) of Habitability: Brines, Irradiation, and Temperature (HABIT)/ExoMars 2022 instrument for the experiment setup but we provide a brief account of constructing a simple and inexpensive electrical conductivity measurement setup. The protocol serves to calibrate the electrical conductivity measurements of the salt deliquescence into brine in a simulated Martian environment. The Martian conditions of temperature (-70 °C to 20 °C), relative humidity (0% to 100%) and pressure (7 - 8 mbar) with carbon-dioxide atmosphere were simulated in the SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber, a facility at the Lule{\aa} University of Technology, Sweden. The hydrate form of the known amount of salt accommodated between a pair of electrodes and thus the electrical conductivity measured depends predominantly on its water content and the temperature and relative humidity of the system. Electrical conductivity measurements were carried out at 1 Hz while exposing salts to a continuously increasing relative humidity (to force transitioning through various hydrates) at different Martian temperatures. For demonstration, a day-night cycle at Oxia Planum, Mars (the landing site of ExoMars 2022 mission) was recreated.",

keywords = "Chemistry, Salts, Deliquescence, Brine formation, Electrical conductivity, Mars simulation, HABIT, SpaceQ chamber, Calibration, ExoMars 2022, Mars exploration",

author = "Nazarious, {Miracle Israel} and {AU - Ramachandran}, {Abhilash Vakkada} and Maria-Paz Zorzano and Javier Martin-Torres",

note = "Acknowledgments The HABIT Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) that was used for the experiments was fabricated by Omnisys, Sweden, as part of the HABIT project development, under the supervision of MPZ and JMT, and funded by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). HABIT and BOTTLE are the original ideas of MPZ and JMT. SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber is a Lule{\aa} University of Technology facility situated in Lule{\aa}, Sweden. The Kempe Foundation funded the design and fabrication of the SpaceQ chamber. The SpaceQ chamber was manufactured by Kurt J. Lesker Company, U.K., under the supervision of MPZ. MPZ has been partially funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “Mar{\'i}a de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiolog{\'i}a (INTA-CSIC) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-104205GB-C21). AVR and JMT acknowledge support from the Wallenberg Foundation.",

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T1 - Measuring Electrical Conductivity to Study the Formation of Brines Under Martian Conditions

AU - Nazarious, Miracle Israel

AU - AU - Ramachandran, Abhilash Vakkada

AU - Zorzano, Maria-Paz

AU - Martin-Torres, Javier

N1 - Acknowledgments The HABIT Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) that was used for the experiments was fabricated by Omnisys, Sweden, as part of the HABIT project development, under the supervision of MPZ and JMT, and funded by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). HABIT and BOTTLE are the original ideas of MPZ and JMT. SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber is a Luleå University of Technology facility situated in Luleå, Sweden. The Kempe Foundation funded the design and fabrication of the SpaceQ chamber. The SpaceQ chamber was manufactured by Kurt J. Lesker Company, U.K., under the supervision of MPZ. MPZ has been partially funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-104205GB-C21). AVR and JMT acknowledge support from the Wallenberg Foundation.

PY - 2021/7

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N2 - This paper describes a protocol to design experiments to study the formation of brines under Martian conditions and monitor the process with electrical conductivity measurements. We used the Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) of Habitability: Brines, Irradiation, and Temperature (HABIT)/ExoMars 2022 instrument for the experiment setup but we provide a brief account of constructing a simple and inexpensive electrical conductivity measurement setup. The protocol serves to calibrate the electrical conductivity measurements of the salt deliquescence into brine in a simulated Martian environment. The Martian conditions of temperature (-70 °C to 20 °C), relative humidity (0% to 100%) and pressure (7 - 8 mbar) with carbon-dioxide atmosphere were simulated in the SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber, a facility at the Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. The hydrate form of the known amount of salt accommodated between a pair of electrodes and thus the electrical conductivity measured depends predominantly on its water content and the temperature and relative humidity of the system. Electrical conductivity measurements were carried out at 1 Hz while exposing salts to a continuously increasing relative humidity (to force transitioning through various hydrates) at different Martian temperatures. For demonstration, a day-night cycle at Oxia Planum, Mars (the landing site of ExoMars 2022 mission) was recreated.

AB - This paper describes a protocol to design experiments to study the formation of brines under Martian conditions and monitor the process with electrical conductivity measurements. We used the Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) of Habitability: Brines, Irradiation, and Temperature (HABIT)/ExoMars 2022 instrument for the experiment setup but we provide a brief account of constructing a simple and inexpensive electrical conductivity measurement setup. The protocol serves to calibrate the electrical conductivity measurements of the salt deliquescence into brine in a simulated Martian environment. The Martian conditions of temperature (-70 °C to 20 °C), relative humidity (0% to 100%) and pressure (7 - 8 mbar) with carbon-dioxide atmosphere were simulated in the SpaceQ Mars simulation chamber, a facility at the Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. The hydrate form of the known amount of salt accommodated between a pair of electrodes and thus the electrical conductivity measured depends predominantly on its water content and the temperature and relative humidity of the system. Electrical conductivity measurements were carried out at 1 Hz while exposing salts to a continuously increasing relative humidity (to force transitioning through various hydrates) at different Martian temperatures. For demonstration, a day-night cycle at Oxia Planum, Mars (the landing site of ExoMars 2022 mission) was recreated.

KW - Chemistry

KW - Salts

KW - Deliquescence

KW - Brine formation

KW - Electrical conductivity

KW - Mars simulation

KW - HABIT

KW - SpaceQ chamber

KW - Calibration

KW - ExoMars 2022

KW - Mars exploration

U2 - 10.3791/61217

DO - 10.3791/61217

M3 - Article

SN - 1940-087X

VL - 173

JO - Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE

JF - Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE

M1 - e61217

ER -

Measuring Electrical Conductivity to Study the Formation of Brines Under Martian Conditions

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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