Potassium ferrate [Fe(VI)] does not mediate self-sterilization of a surrogate mars soil

Abstract

Background: Martian soil is thought to be enriched with strong oxidants such as peroxides and/ or iron in high oxidation states that might destroy biological materials. There is also a high flux of ultraviolet radiation at the surface of Mars. Thus, Mars may be inhospitable to life as we know it on Earth. We examined the hypothesis that if the soil of Mars contains ferrates [Fe(VI)], the strongest of the proposed oxidizing species, and also is exposed to high fluxes of UV radiation, it will be selfsterilizing.

On the Origins of Some Spectroscopic Properties of “Purple Iron” (the Tetraoxoferrate(VI) Ion) and Its Pourbaix Safe-Space

“…To complete the list, hysteresis loops were measured in magnetic fields up to 1.5 Tesla by a vibrating magnetometer. (Polemics soon followed, not about the choice of instrumental methods of analysis, but of the hypothesis of the existence of Fe(VI) species on Mars [ 22 , 23 ]). Another instance which involved the analysis of ferrate(VI) by a large array of analytical methods instigated by Licht et al is noteworthy [ 24 ].…”