Characterizing phase transitions for titan's surface molecules: Implications for Dragonfly

Abstract

The potential commonality of organic synthesis and prebiotic processes on the surface of Titan and primitive Earth makes Saturn's largest moon an indispensable location to seek answers for the origins of life on Earth and elsewhere. NASA's New Frontiers Mission, Dragonfly, is set to arrive on Titan's surface in the mid-2030s. Two of the main scientific goals of the Dragonfly mission are to identify chemical components and potential processes responsible for the production of biologically relevant compounds, and to search for potential biosignatures. To address these mission goals, Dragonfly is equipped with a linear ion trap mass spectrometer, called the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer, or DraMS. This instrument will measure the molecular composition of Titan's surface at various locations inside and near Selk Crater, where prebiotic chemistry is expected to have occurred. Some molecules of interest on Titan's surface are thought to be sensitive to phase changes within the expected range of the sample handling chain, 94–165 K and 0.04–1.5 bar. A large abundance of such materials may therefore impact the capture efficiency and physical properties of the sampled materials within the DraMS system. In this work, we explore the potential for some of the hypothesized abundant organic molecules to be induced into phase transitions during the end-to-end sampling process by DraMS.