Chemical Characterization of Aerosols in Simulated Planetary Atmospheres

Abstract

The surface of Titan is hidden, in the visible light, by two aerosol layers. The properties of these layers have been studied through ground-based and spacecraft observations, by theoretical modeling, and by different experimental approaches. Tentative analogues of Titan’s aerosols have been synthesized in laboratories to determine their physical, chemical, and optical properties. It was precisely a careful analysis of the optical properties of the laboratory solid aggregates that shows that those properties frequently need a correction factor to adequately match Titan’s geometric albedo. Trying to find an explanation to this fact, there has been a continuous search on the physical and chemical properties of the synthesized solids in relation to their quality as authentic laboratory analogues. A few reports are available concerning the chemical composition of laboratory aerosols and such studies varied significantly in experimental variables. Hence, there is a need for systematic studies of the solid products synthesized during simulation experiments devoted to determine their structural features. A brief description of the initial steps of such a study focused in the characterization, by analytical instrumental techniques, of laboratory aerosol analogues synthesized from 1-hour laser-induced plasma irradiation of a Titan’s canonical atmosphere is presented. Understanding the chemical process that originate them and approaching to their chemical characterization can certainly help to easily interpret their role in Titan’s atmospheric dynamics.