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Scientists have developed laser technology that has the potential to detect life on other planets.
Nationalgeographic.co.id—As space missions dig deeper into the outer solar system, the need for more compact, resource-efficient, and accurate analytical tools becomes critical. Mainly because of the hunt for extraterrestrial life and planet or habitable months continues.
A team led by the University of Maryland developed a new instrument specifically adapted to the needs of NASA’s space missions. Source analyzer laser mini they are significantly smaller and more resource efficient than their predecessors. All without compromising the quality of its ability to analyze samples of planetary material and potential biological activity at those locations.
The team’s findings about this new device have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy on January 16, 2023 with the paper title “Laser desorption mass spectrometry with an Orbitrap analyzer for in situ astrobiology.”
This new tool only weighs about 7.7 kilograms. The instrument is a combination of two important physically downsized tools for detecting signs of life and identifying material composition: a pulsed ultraviolet laser that removes small amounts of material from planetary samples and an Orbitrap analyzer.TM which generates high-resolution data on the chemical being examined.
“Orbitrap was originally built for commercial use,” explained Ricardo Arevalo, lead author of the paper and a professor of geology at UMD. “You can find them in the laboratories of the pharmaceutical, medical and proteomics industries. The one in my own lab weighs less than 181 kilograms, so it’s quite large, and it took us eight years to build a prototype that could be used efficiently in space. Even it is significantly smaller and less resource intensive, but still capable of cutting-edge science.”
Lori Willhite and Ricardo Arevalo.
Photo of the Orbitrap mass analyzer of the prototype instrument.
The team’s new gadget shrinks the original Orbitrap while pairing it with laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) – a technique that has not yet been implemented in extraterrestrial planetary environments. The new device offers the same benefits as its larger but simplified predecessor for space exploration and on-site analysis of planetary materials, according to Arevalo.
Thanks to its small mass and minimal power requirements, this mini LDMS Orbitrap instrument can be easily stowed and maintained in the payload of a space mission. Instrumental analysis of planetary surfaces or matter is also far less intrusive. It is thus much less likely to contaminate or damage the sample than many of the current methods which attempt to identify unknown compounds.
“The good thing about laser sources is that anything that can be ionized can be analyzed. If we shoot a laser beam at an ice sample, we should be able to characterize the composition of the ice and see the biological signatures in it,” said Arevalo. “This tool has high mass resolution and accuracy so that any molecular or chemical structures in the sample become more identifiable.”
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