Instruments for<i>In Situ</i>Sample Analysis

Feldman, Sabrina; Johnson, P. V.; Dreyer, Christopher B.

doi:10.1002/9783527626625.ch8

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…For example, when Stardust was proposed in 1994, the standard for dust sample analysis was particles that were 15 lm or larger; and in 2006, when Stardust samples were returned, sample analyses were routinely conducted at submicron levels by utilizing the focused ion beam technique in the laboratory. Furthermore, for in situ instruments, all human judgments and actions as the necessary part of the measurement process had to be conceived and automated for a flight instrument, such as, for example, judging the state of the phenomenon to determine the best means of measurement, assessing the measurement environment as it affects the measurement, adapting the minimum intrusive handling techniques, and so on (Beegle et al, 2008(Beegle et al, , 2009. Additionally, a sample return eliminates the mass, volume, power, adjustment, and maintenance restrictions imposed on in situ instruments.…”

Section: Importance Of Sample Returnmentioning

confidence: 99%

LIFE: Life Investigation For EnceladusA Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life

Tsou¹,

Brownlee

McKay

et al. 2012

Astrobiology

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Life Investigation For Enceladus (LIFE) presents a low-cost sample return mission to Enceladus, a body with high astrobiological potential. There is ample evidence that liquid water exists under ice coverage in the form of active geysers in the "tiger stripes" area of the southern Enceladus hemisphere. This active plume consists of gas and ice particles and enables the sampling of fresh materials from the interior that may originate from a liquid water source. The particles consist mostly of water ice and are 1-10 μ in diameter. The plume composition shows H(2)O, CO(2), CH(4), NH(3), Ar, and evidence that more complex organic species might be present. Since life on Earth exists whenever liquid water, organics, and energy coexist, understanding the chemical components of the emanating ice particles could indicate whether life is potentially present on Enceladus. The icy worlds of the outer planets are testing grounds for some of the theories for the origin of life on Earth. The LIFE mission concept is envisioned in two parts: first, to orbit Saturn (in order to achieve lower sampling speeds, approaching 2 km/s, and thus enable a softer sample collection impact than Stardust, and to make possible multiple flybys of Enceladus); second, to sample Enceladus' plume, the E ring of Saturn, and the Titan upper atmosphere. With new findings from these samples, NASA could provide detailed chemical and isotopic and, potentially, biological compositional context of the plume. Since the duration of the Enceladus plume is unpredictable, it is imperative that these samples are captured at the earliest flight opportunity. If LIFE is launched before 2019, it could take advantage of a Jupiter gravity assist, which would thus reduce mission lifetimes and launch vehicle costs. The LIFE concept offers science returns comparable to those of a Flagship mission but at the measurably lower sample return costs of a Discovery-class mission.

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Section: Importance Of Sample Returnmentioning

confidence: 99%

LIFE: Life Investigation For EnceladusA Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life

Tsou¹,

Brownlee

McKay

et al. 2012

Astrobiology

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“…Regolith/ice analysis, space-based water analysis and advanced biomedical diagnostic systems are just some of many potential applications where low mass, robust, in situ , ion-selective analysis technologies would be advantageous [127,128,220,221]. For missions to near Earth objects, the Moon or Mars, in-situ monitoring will become ever more critical due to the inaccessibility of Earth-based laboratory analyses.…”

Section: Other Space-based Ion-selective Sensor Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion-Specific Nutrient Management in Closed Systems: The Necessity for Ion-Selective Sensors in Terrestrial and Space-Based Agriculture and Water Management Systems

Bamsey

Graham

Thompson

et al. 2012

Sensors

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The ability to monitor and control plant nutrient ions in fertigation solutions, on an ion-specific basis, is critical to the future of controlled environment agriculture crop production, be it in traditional terrestrial settings (e.g., greenhouse crop production) or as a component of bioregenerative life support systems for long duration space exploration. Several technologies are currently available that can provide the required measurement of ion-specific activities in solution. The greenhouse sector has invested in research examining the potential of a number of these technologies to meet the industry's demanding requirements, and although no ideal solution yet exists for on-line measurement, growers do utilize technologies such as high-performance liquid chromatography to provide off-line measurements. An analogous situation exists on the International Space Station where, technological solutions are sought, but currently on-orbit water quality monitoring is considerably restricted. This paper examines the specific advantages that on-line ion-selective sensors could provide to plant production systems both terrestrially and when utilized in space-based biological life support systems and how similar technologies could be applied to nominal on-orbit water quality monitoring. A historical development and technical review of the various ion-selective monitoring technologies is provided.

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“…If these locations can exist on a planet such as Earth, which is literally teeming with biology, it is prudent to assume that other worlds in our solar system that appear to be sterile may have organics at levels far lower than this. As such, to maximize the chance of detecting organic molecules during in situ missions, the analytical methods used should have limits of detection at least in the parts-per-billion or even parts-per-trillion range [17]. From a practical perspective, this is an extremely important aspect to consider when one is planning a mission.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of microchip electrophoresis instrumentation for future spaceflight missions

2015

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We present a comprehensive discussion of the role that microchip electrophoresis (ME) instrumentation could play in future NASA missions of exploration, as well as the current barriers that must be overcome to make this type of chemical investigation possible. We describe how ME would be able to fill fundamental gaps in our knowledge of the potential for past, present, or future life beyond Earth. Despite the great promise of ME for ultrasensitive portable chemical analysis, to date, it has never been used on a robotic mission of exploration to another world. We provide a current snapshot of the technology readiness level (TRL) of ME instrumentation, where the TRL is the NASA systems engineering metric used to evaluate the maturity of technology, and its fitness for implementation on missions. We explain how the NASA flight implementation process would apply specifically to ME instrumentation, and outline the scientific and technology development issues that must be addressed for ME analyses to be performed successfully on another world. We also outline research demonstrations that could be accomplished by independent researchers to help advance the TRL of ME instrumentation for future exploration missions. The overall approach described here for system development could be readily applied to a wide range of other instrumentation development efforts having broad societal and commercial impact.

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Instruments forIn SituSample Analysis

Cited by 3 publications

References 109 publications

LIFE: Life Investigation For EnceladusA Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life

LIFE: Life Investigation For EnceladusA Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life

Ion-Specific Nutrient Management in Closed Systems: The Necessity for Ion-Selective Sensors in Terrestrial and Space-Based Agriculture and Water Management Systems

Implementation of microchip electrophoresis instrumentation for future spaceflight missions

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