How to Detect Life on Icy Moons

Abstract

The icy moons of the outer Solar System present the possibility of subsurface water, habitable conditions, and potential abodes for life. Access to evidence that reveals the presence of life on the icy moons can be facilitated by plumes that eject material from the subsurface out into space. One instrument capable of performing life-search investigations at the icy moons is the MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX), which constitutes a high-resolution, high-sensitivity multibounce time-of-flight mass spectrometer capable of measuring trace amounts (ppb) of organic compounds. MASPEX has been selected for the NASA Europa Clipper mission and will sample any plumes and the surface-sputtered atmosphere to assess any evidence for habitability and life. MASPEX is capable of similar investigations targeted at other icy moons. Data may be forthcoming from direct sampling but also impact dissociation because of the high speed of some analytes. Impact dissociation is analogous to the dissociation provided by modern analytical pyrolysis methods. Radiolytic dissociation on the europan surface before or during the sputtering process can also induce fragmentation similar to pyrolysis. In this study, we have compiled pyrolysis mass spectrometry data from a variety of biological and nonbiological materials to demonstrate the ability of MASPEX to recognize habitability and detect life in any plumes and atmospheres of icy moons.

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