Effects of sterilizing doses of gamma radiation on Mars analog rocks and minerals

Abstract

Rock and soil samples from the planet Mars are due to be returned to Earth within a decade. Martian samples initially will be tested for evidence of life and biological hazard under strict biological containment. Wider distribution of samples for organic and inorganic analysis may occur only if neither evidence of life nor hazard is detected, or if the samples are first sterilized. We subjected a range of Mars analog rocks and minerals to high doses of gamma radiation in order to determine the effects of gamma sterilization on the samples' isotopic, chemical, and physical properties. Gamma photons from 60Co (1.17 and 1.33 MeV) in doses as high as 3×107 rads did not induce radioactivity in the samples and produced no measurable changes in their isotopic and chemical compositions. This level of irradiation also produced no measurable changes in the crystallographic structure of any sample, the surface areas of soil analogs, or the fluid inclusion homogenization temperature of quartz. The only detectable effects of irradiation were dose‐dependent changes in the visible and near‐infrared spectral region (e.g., discoloration and darkening of quartz and halite and an increase in albedo of carbonates) and increases in the thermoluminescence of quartz and plagioclase. If samples returned from Mars require biological sterilization, gamma irradiation provides a feasible option.