Lunar Organic Compounds: Search and Characterization

Abstract

The carbon concentration in Apollo 11 lunar fine material is of the order of 200 ppm. By far the largest single amount of this carbon appears to be in carbon monoxide. Some of this seems to be in the form of gas bubbles in the glass spheres, but most of it could be in some complex form other than gas. This result would be consistent with the idea that most of the fines passed through a high temperature and that the carbon was oxidized by mineral oxides at that time.