REGARDLESS OF THE PLANETARY ENVIRONMENT LASER-ENABLED IN SITU METHODS OF CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OFFER AN IDEAL WAY TO CHARACTERIZE PRECIOUS SAMPLE SPECIMENS WITH HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND SPECIFICITY AND WITHOUT REQUIRING CONTACT WITH THE SAMPLE (REDUCING THE RISK OF CONTAMINATION). LASER DESORPTION AND ABLATION MICROPROCESSING TECHNIQUES ALSO SUPPORT: I) REPRODUCIBLE (HIGHPRECISION) AND ROBUST (WELL-CHARACTERIZED) DETECTION OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC MOLECULES OVER A WIDE RANGE IN MASS VOLATILITY AND IONIZATION ENERGY; II) FOCUSED MEASUREMENTS OF MICRON-SIZE TARGETS SUCH AS INDIVIDUAL MINERAL PHASES ICE GRAINS AND/OR DISCRETE GEOLOGICAL STRATA CAPTURED BY A SAMPLE CORE; AND III) MINIMAL ANALYTICAL BLANKS RESULTING IN LOW LIMITS OF DETECTION (LOD) AND LIMITS OF QUANTITATION (LOQ). LASER SAMPLING IS PARTICULARLY WELL SUITED FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION AS SUCH TECHNIQUES CONSUME ORDERS-OF-MAGNITUDE SMALLER QUANTITIES OF SAMPLE (I.E. NG) COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL PYROLYSIS TECHNIQUES (I.E. MG) INCLUDING THOSE EXECUTED BY THE VIKING PHOENIX AND MSL MISSIONS. IN COMMERCIAL LABORATORIES LASER DESORPTION AND ABLATION MASS SPECTROMETRY HAS A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL HISTORY OF USE IN THE ELEMENTAL AND MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF SOLID MATERIALS INCLUDING PLANETARY ANALOG SAMPLES.