How to Search for Chemical Biosignatures on Ocean Worlds

Willis, Peter A.; Mora, María F.; Noell, Aaron C.; Creamer, Jessica S.; Kehl, Florian; Zamuruyev, Konstantin; Jaramillo, Elizabeth A.; Kok, Miranda; Cieslarová, Zuzana; Santos, Mauro Sérgio Ferreira; Oborny, Nathan; Drevinskas, Tomas; Bădescu, Mircea; Simčič, J.; Waller, Sarah E.; Madzunkov, S.; Lindensmith, Christian; Brinckerhoff, Will; Hoehler, Tori M.; Quinn, R. A.; Ricco, Antonio J.; Lunte, Sue; Templeton, A. S.

doi:10.3847/25c2cfeb.8a770808

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…A subsurface probe, or cryobot (i.e., French et al 2001), will require a robust environmental characterization and life detection instrument package (Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) 2018; Moore et al 2020;Willis et al 2021) designed to meet the challenges of operating within Europa's interior ice and water environments (Schmidt et al 2021a(Schmidt et al , 2020b. This instrument suite must be able to withstand space flight, operate for years while submerged at high pressures, tolerate potentially corrosive chemical compositions, and, ideally, analyze liquid samples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subsurface Science and Search for Life in Ocean Worlds

et al. 2023

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Several worlds in our solar system are thought to hold oceans of liquid water beneath their frozen surfaces. These subsurface ice and ocean environments are promising targets in the search for life beyond Earth, but they also present significant new technical challenges to planetary exploration. With a focus on Jupiter’s moon Europa, here we (1) identify major benefits and challenges to subsurface ocean world science, (2) provide a multidisciplinary survey of relevant sample handling and life detection technologies, and (3) integrate those perspectives into the Subsurface Science and Search for Life in Ocean Worlds (SSSLOW) concept payload. We discuss scientific goals across three complementary categories: (1) search for life, (2) assess habitability, and (3) investigate geological processes. Major mission challenges considered include submerged operation in high-pressure environments, the need to sample fluids with a range of possible chemical conditions, and detection of biosignatures at low concentrations. The SSSLOW addresses these issues by tightly integrated instrumentation and sample handling systems to enable sequential, complementary measurements while prioritizing preservation of sample context. In this work, we leverage techniques and technologies across several fields to demonstrate a path toward future subsurface exploration and life detection in ice and ocean worlds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subsurface Science and Search for Life in Ocean Worlds

et al. 2023

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“…For amino acid detection at ocean worlds, like on Mars, understanding the chemical context of the sample matrix is essential for sensitive biosignature detection (Willis et al, 2021 ). To that end, researchers are developing techniques and instruments that include monolithic automatic sample processing systems capable of small volume fluid routing; dehydrated reagent storage; and pressure, pH, redox potential, and conductivity measurements (Chinn et al, 2017 ; Noell et al, 2019 ; Radosevich et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research into microfluidic in situ spacecraft landers has focused on capillary electrophoresis and shown separation and detection of a variety of biologically relevant molecules including amino acids, aldehydes and ketones, carboxylic acids, and thiols (Skelley et al, 2005 , 2006; Chiesl et al, 2009 ; Benhabib et al, 2010 ; Stockton et al, 2010 , 2011; Mora et al, 2011 , 2013; Jensen et al, 2013 ; Kim et al, 2013 ; Creamer et al, 2017 ). This powerful separation modality can achieve lower levels of detection than MS when paired with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection (Willis et al, 2021 ), with a recent study by Creamer et al ( 2017 ) demonstrating simultaneous chiral separation of 17 amino acids using capillary electrophoresis laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) at detection levels of 5 nM for neutral amino acids and 500 nM for acidic amino acids. More recently, Mora et al (2020) also demonstrated nanomolar sensitivities in an autonomous sample-to-analysis platform dubbed the “Chemical Laptop” deployed in the Atacama Desert, Chile.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microfluidic Chromatography for Enhanced Amino Acid Detection at Ocean Worlds

et al. 2022

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Increasing interest in the detection of biogenic signatures, such as amino acids, on icy moons and bodies within our solar system has led to the development of compact in situ instruments. Given the expected dilute biosignatures and high salinities of these extreme environments, purification of icy samples before analysis enables increased detection sensitivity. Herein, we outline a novel compact cation exchange method to desalinate proteinogenic amino acids in solution, independent of the type and concentration of salts in the sample. Using a modular microfluidic device, initial experiments explored operational limits of binding capacity with phenylalanine and three model cations, Na + , Mg 2+ , and Ca 2+ . Phenylalanine recovery (94–17%) with reduced conductivity (30–200 times) was seen at high salt-to-amino-acid ratios between 25:1 and 500:1. Later experiments tested competition between mixtures of 17 amino acids and other chemistries present in a terrestrial ocean sample. Recoveries ranged from 11% to 85% depending on side chain chemistry and cation competition, with concentration shown for select high affinity amino acids. This work outlines a nondestructive amino acid purification device capable of coupling to multiple downstream analytical techniques for improved characterization of icy samples at remote ocean worlds.

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“…Searching for organics to understand the biotic and abiotic processes on rocky or icy worlds is a significant challenge for robotic planetary exploration (Willis et al, 2021). In order to take advantage of some of the most sensitive analytical instruments, including gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS), or capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF) (Mahaffy et al, 2012;Willis et al, 2015;Mora et al, 2020), or even X-ray diffraction (Blake et al, 2012), the sample acquired via a sampling tool must first be processed in sample handling instrumentation before delivery to selected instrumentation for analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic Processing of Fluidic Samples for Planetary Exploration

Sherrit¹,

Bădescu²,

Noell³

et al. 2022

Front. Space Technol.

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The search for life on other planetary bodies is driven by our quest to determine if Earth is unique with respect to harboring life. In order to answer this question, instrumentation with suitable sensitivity is required to measure biosignatures. In addition to accurate measurements by in-situ instruments, specialized sample acquisition and sample handling hardware is required to maximize the scientific information obtained from an acquired sample. This paper discusses a class of compact sample processing instrumentation using solid-state mechanisms that use acoustic waves to process samples prior to delivery to the instrument. Some of the acoustic sample processes that can be used to aid in preparation of liquid and liquid/solid mixtures include: mixing, milling, cavitating, lysing, heating, streaming, stirring, lofting, concentrating, segregating, and filtering. We will review these acoustic processes and show how they are generated using electromechanical systems. In addition to processing, these transduction systems could also use acoustics to interrogate physical properties such as the state of the sample, the acoustic velocity, and its attenuation. In order to generate these processes and sensing capabilities at these frequencies, a transduction mechanism is required to produce stress waves from electrical signals and vice versa. One commonly used technique is to use piezoelectric transducers that generate a stress that is linearly proportional to the voltage across the transducer and a voltage that is proportional to the stress on a transducer’s face. A variety of transducer modes are available to excite the sample, including thickness, transverse, radial, and shear extensional, and these can be used to build composite resonance structures including ultrasonic horns, tuning forks, bimorph, and unimorph benders to increase stress generated in the sample. We discuss how to model the acoustic interactions with the sample and the sample chamber in order to produce the required stress waves and illustrate the use of network models of piezoelectric transducers to accomplish this modeling. We demonstrate how to build up these models using Mason’s equivalent circuit for a piezoelectric and network models for acoustic layers in a design. Finally, to illustrate this acoustic processing ability, we will discuss a few systems that we have developed for sample handling systems for other planetary bodies like Mars and ocean worlds Enceladus and Europa.

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How to Search for Chemical Biosignatures on Ocean Worlds

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Subsurface Science and Search for Life in Ocean Worlds

Subsurface Science and Search for Life in Ocean Worlds

Microfluidic Chromatography for Enhanced Amino Acid Detection at Ocean Worlds

Acoustic Processing of Fluidic Samples for Planetary Exploration

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