Searching for Life Across Space and Time Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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5 Instrumentation
5 Instrumentation
Pages 63-72
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From page 63... ...
The Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) has determined the plume to be rich in H2O, CO2, CH4, NH3, and heavier hydrocarbons all the way up to its mass limit of 100 atomic mass units.
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From page 64... ...
, which are able to target gas and, occasionally, ice grains. Mass spectrometers have an extensive flight heritage.
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From page 65... ...
A microchip capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence can detect a wide range of organic molecules: chiral amino acids, lipids, amines, thiols, fatty acids, DNA, RNA, and proteins. As with the previous methods discussed above it requires a complex instrument to capture and concentrate these particles.
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From page 66... ...
This is why, Cable concluded, she wanted to ultimately have a sample return mission where these sensitivity questions could be thoroughly addressed. LIFE DETECTION CAPABILITIES OF LUVOIR AND HABEX Shawn Domagal-Goldman of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center began his talk by emphasizing the need for collaboration and complementarity in the search for biosignatures.
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From page 67... ...
Maintaining UV capability requires clean mirrors, but when cooling the telescope below 260 K in order to observe in FIGURE 5.2 Spectrum of Earth as seen from Saturn. SOURCE: NASA Space Telescope Science In stitute (STSciI)
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From page 68... ...
Using a starshade flying in formation significantly lessens the burdens placed on the telescope itself. Another advantage of a starshade over a coronagraph is that there is no outer working angle, meaning that outer planets potentially as far as Kuiper belt distances will remain visible.
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From page 69... ...
Domagal-Goldman finished by wishing that people would think of clouds as conveyors of information. IN SITU DETECTION OF ORGANICS ON MARS Jennifer Eigenbrode of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center started by thanking the members of the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)
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From page 70... ...
Rocknest and Mojave 2 Sample Results The first site that Curiosity visited was Rocknest, Eigenbrode recalled, an Eolian Drift on the Gale Crater floor often called "martian soil." Using evolved gas analysis (EGA) shows a background signal clearly visible, but there is also a bump at 825°C from the release of refractory organic material.
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From page 71... ...
These can then be chlorinated to produce C1 to C4 chlorinated molecules and chlorobenzene, which are equivalent to the types of molecules detected during thermal desorption. The Mojave2 sample is at the bottom of the Lower Mound outcrop at Gale Crater.
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From page 72... ...
She replied that she wants to learn how the organic molecules are preserved, what mineral associations they are contained in, and how they got in them. One way to answer this question, she said, is to take the refractory organic material, break it up, and get more mineralogical information out of it.
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