Organic compounds on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed by COSAC mass spectrometry

Fred Goesmann; Helmut Rosenbauer; Jan Hendrik Bredehöft; Michel Cabane; Pascale Ehrenfreund; Thomas Gautier; Chaitanya Giri; Harald Krüger; Léna Le Roy; Alexandra J. MacDermott; Susan McKenna-Lawlor; Uwe J. Meierhenrich; Guillermo M. Muñoz Caro; Francois Raulin; Reinhard Roll; Andrew Steele; Harald Steininger; Robert Sternberg; Cyril Szopa; Wolfram Thiemann; Stephan Ulamec

doi:10.1126/science.aab0689

Special Issue Reports

Organic compounds on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed by COSAC mass spectrometry

Fred Goesmann¹,*,
Helmut Rosenbauer¹,
Jan Hendrik Bredehöft²,
Michel Cabane³,
Pascale Ehrenfreund⁴,⁵,
Thomas Gautier⁶,
Chaitanya Giri¹,⁷,
Harald Krüger¹,
Léna Le Roy⁸,
Alexandra J. MacDermott⁹,
Susan McKenna-Lawlor¹⁰,
Uwe J. Meierhenrich⁷,
Guillermo M. Muñoz Caro¹¹,
Francois Raulin¹²,
Reinhard Roll¹,
Andrew Steele¹³,
Harald Steininger¹,
Robert Sternberg¹²,
Cyril Szopa³,
Wolfram Thiemann²,
Stephan Ulamec¹⁴

¹Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus von Liebig Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
²University of Bremen, Institute for Applied and Physical Chemistry, Leobener Strasse NW2, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
³Université Versailles St-Quentin, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Univ. Paris 06, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)–Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers, Laboratoire Atmosphéres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales–Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (LATMOS-IPSL), 4 Place Jussieu 75005 Paris.
⁴Leiden Observatory, Post Office Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands.
⁵Space Policy Institute, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
⁶Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
⁷University Nice Sophia Antipolis, Institut de Chimie de Nice Unite Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7272 CNRS, Avenue Valrose, 06108 Nice, France.
⁸Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
⁹University of Houston–Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
¹⁰Space Technology Ireland, Ltd., Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
¹¹Centro de Astrobiología, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial–Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Ctra. de Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain.
¹²Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systémes Atmosphériques (LISA), UMR CNRS 7583, Université Paris-Est Créteil and Université Paris-Diderot, 94000 Créteil, France.
¹³Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁴German Aerospace Center, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR), 51147 Cologne, Germany.

↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: goesmann{at}mps.mpg.de

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Science 31 Jul 2015:
Vol. 349, Issue 6247, aab0689
DOI: 10.1126/science.aab0689

Fred Goesmann

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus von Liebig Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.

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For correspondence: goesmann@mps.mpg.de

Helmut Rosenbauer

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus von Liebig Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.

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Jan Hendrik Bredehöft

University of Bremen, Institute for Applied and Physical Chemistry, Leobener Strasse NW2, 28359 Bremen, Germany.

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Michel Cabane

Université Versailles St-Quentin, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Univ. Paris 06, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)–Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers, Laboratoire Atmosphéres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales–Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (LATMOS-IPSL), 4 Place Jussieu 75005 Paris.

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Pascale Ehrenfreund

Leiden Observatory, Post Office Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands.Space Policy Institute, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.

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Thomas Gautier

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.

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Chaitanya Giri

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus von Liebig Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.University Nice Sophia Antipolis, Institut de Chimie de Nice Unite Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7272 CNRS, Avenue Valrose, 06108 Nice, France.

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Harald Krüger

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus von Liebig Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.

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Léna Le Roy

Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.

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Alexandra J. MacDermott

University of Houston–Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

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Susan McKenna-Lawlor

Space Technology Ireland, Ltd., Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.

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Uwe J. Meierhenrich

University Nice Sophia Antipolis, Institut de Chimie de Nice Unite Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7272 CNRS, Avenue Valrose, 06108 Nice, France.

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Guillermo M. Muñoz Caro

Centro de Astrobiología, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial–Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Ctra. de Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain.

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Francois Raulin

Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systémes Atmosphériques (LISA), UMR CNRS 7583, Université Paris-Est Créteil and Université Paris-Diderot, 94000 Créteil, France.

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Reinhard Roll

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus von Liebig Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.

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Andrew Steele

Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC, USA.

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Harald Steininger

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus von Liebig Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.

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Robert Sternberg

Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systémes Atmosphériques (LISA), UMR CNRS 7583, Université Paris-Est Créteil and Université Paris-Diderot, 94000 Créteil, France.

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Cyril Szopa

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Wolfram Thiemann

University of Bremen, Institute for Applied and Physical Chemistry, Leobener Strasse NW2, 28359 Bremen, Germany.

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Stephan Ulamec

German Aerospace Center, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR), 51147 Cologne, Germany.

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Abstract

Comets harbor the most pristine material in our solar system in the form of ice, dust, silicates, and refractory organic material with some interstellar heritage. The evolved gas analyzer Cometary Sampling and Composition (COSAC) experiment aboard Rosetta’s Philae lander was designed for in situ analysis of organic molecules on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Twenty-five minutes after Philae’s initial comet touchdown, the COSAC mass spectrometer took a spectrum in sniffing mode, which displayed a suite of 16 organic compounds, including many nitrogen-bearing species but no sulfur-bearing species, and four compounds—methyl isocyanate, acetone, propionaldehyde, and acetamide—that had not previously been reported in comets.

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Organic compounds on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed by COSAC mass spectrometry

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