Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA)

The MOMA mass spectrometer subsystem and main electronics, inside the Mars thermal vacuum chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
The MOMA mass spectrometer subsystem and main electronics, inside the Mars thermal vacuum chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Understanding the Martian Upper Atmosphere

Scientists Shrink Chemistry Lab to Seek Evidence of Life on Mars

An international team of scientists has created a tiny chemistry lab for a rover that will drill beneath the Martian surface looking for signs of past or present life. The toaster oven-sized lab, called the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer or MOMA, is a key instrument on the ExoMars Rover, a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, with a significant contribution to MOMA from NASA. It will be launched toward the Red Planet in July 2020.

“The ExoMars Rover’s two-meter deep drill will provide MOMA with unique samples that may contain complex organic compounds preserved from an ancient era, when life might have gotten started on Mars,” said MOMA Project Scientist Will Brinckerhoff of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Although the surface of Mars is inhospitable to known forms of life today, there is evidence that in the distant past, the Martian climate allowed the presence of liquid water – an essential ingredient for life – at the surface. This evidence includes features that resemble dry riverbeds and mineral deposits that only form in the presence of liquid water. NASA has sent rovers to Mars that have found additional signs of past habitable environments, such as the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers both currently exploring the Martian terrain.

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