title: Organic analysis of the returned lunar sample.
abstract: Lunar fines have been examined for organic compounds by crushing, programmed heating, hydrofluoric acid etching, and solvent extraction. Products were examined by mass spectroscopy. A variety of small organic molecules, including methane and other hydrocarbons, accompanied the release of the rare gases when the sample was heated in a stepwise fashion to 900 degrees C under vacuum. Methane is more abundant (abundance on the order of 1 part per million) than argon in the matrix-entrapped gases liberated by hydrofluoric acid etching of lunar fines. Methane is also present in a dark portion of the gas-rich meteorite Kapoeta.
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Abell
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Draffan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eglinton
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Maxwell
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Pillinger