NASA’s Curiosity rover recently made a groundbreaking discovery: the largest organic molecules ever found on Mars, including long-chain hydrocarbons such as decane, undecane, and dodecane. These molecules were detected in 3.7-billion-year-old mudstone from Gale Crater—an area believed to be an ancient lakebed—suggesting that Mars may have once had the conditions to support life.
But behind this incredible scientific achievement lies a story of precision, durability, and advanced materials science.
SilcoTek-coated MXT GC columns from Restek played a critical role in this mission. These inert, high-performance GC columns—enhanced with SilcoNert® coating technology—were used in Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite. Their job? To ensure that delicate organic compounds could be accurately separated, preserved, and analyzed without contamination or signal loss due to surface interaction.
The stakes are high when needing accurate analytical sampling and analysis on Mars. SilcoNert’s inert coating technology enables NASA to capture and confirm trace-level organic compounds that had been preserved for billions of years.
This discovery is not just a win for space science. It’s a testament to the importance of surface chemistry in preserving sample integrity, whether in the lab or on another planet. As we push the boundaries of exploration, SilcoTek’s coatings continue to prove their value in the most extreme and demanding environments.
Fun fact: SilcoTek was also on Mars in 2012 and 2022!
Why are SilcoTek coatings used in sampling systems? Because no other coating has both the inertness and durability to withstand the harsh environment of launch, landing, and cosmic exposure in space, as well as assure samples taken don't react with the instrument flow path. Robust equipment design and meticulous sample preparation play a large role in achieving ultra-low level detection limits. Equipment costs can be into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for some instruments. All that expensive equipment won't achieve results without a stable and inert sample flow path. It's vital to develop highly solid procedures based on well researched methods. One key area that must be addressed and managed is adsorption and chemical interaction of the flow path surface with the sample. Without thoroughly managing flow path inertness it will be unlikely to achieve ppt or ppb level results. Some tips for managing the flow path are:
SilcoTek coatings like SilcoNert beat other industry deactivations for durability, inertness response and corrosion resistance. SilcoTek has proven the drastic difference in inertness response when comparing SilcoNert 2000 coating with bare stainless steel. With a significant improvement in adsorption, SilcoNert 2000 was the logical choice for NASA's SAM equipment.
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