Recent Developments in Gas Chromatograms and Mass Spectrometers for Crewed and Robotic Space Missions

Abstract

We report progress towards developing the micro-Gas Monitor (mGM), a miniature gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. The mGM is planned to have a total mass of 2.5kg and consume approximately 22W of power, including pumps and all electronics. The instrument consists of JPL’s quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer integrated with a state-of-the-art micro-electromechanical gas chromatograph system developed by Cbana Labs Inc. The base characteristics of the mGM are: mass range from 1amu to 2000amu; mass resolving power of 800 @ mass 40 and sensitivity at parts-per-billion level. The low instrument mass, coupled with its high analytical capabilities, makes the mGM ideally suitable for wide range of applications such as trace contaminant and major constituent monitoring in crewed space exploration vehicles or robotic planetary missions. Presented are mGM data for both trace volatile organic and real-time major constituents detection.