A team of scientists from the University of Maryland has developed a new instrument that is specifically tailored to the needs of NASA space missions.
This mini laser-sourced analyzer is significantly smaller and more resource efficient than previous versions, and it is capable of analyzing planetary material samples and potential biological activity onsite. The team’s paper on this new device was published in the journal Nature Astronomy on January 16, 2023.
Weighing only about 17 pounds, the instrument is a physically scaled-down combination of two important tools for detecting signs of life and identifying compositions of materials: a pulsed ultraviolet laser that removes small amounts of material from a planetary sample and an OrbitrapTM analyzer that delivers high-resolution data about the chemistry of the examined materials.
The Orbitrap was originally built for commercial use, but the team’s new gadget shrinks down the original Orbitrap while pairing it with laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) techniques that have yet to be applied in an extraterrestrial planetary environment. The new device boasts the same benefits as its larger predecessors but is streamlined for space exploration and onsite planetary material analysis.
Thanks to its diminutive mass and minimal power requirements, the mini Orbitrap LDMS instrument can be easily stowed away and maintained on space mission payloads. The instrument’s analyses of a planetary surface or substance are also far less intrusive and thus much less likely to contaminate or damage a sample than many current methods that attempt to identify unknown compounds.
The laser component of the mini LDMS Orbitrap also allows researchers access to larger, more complex compounds that are more likely to be associated with biology. Smaller organic compounds like amino acids, for example, are more ambiguous signatures of life forms.
For the team, the mini LDMS Orbitrap will offer much-needed insight and flexibility for future ventures into the outer solar system, such as missions focused on life detection objectives and exploration of the lunar surface. They hope to send their device into space and deploy it on a planetary target of interest within the next few years.
This study was supported by NASA , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Internal Research Development (IRAD), and the University of Maryland Faculty Incentive Program.