NASA's got a mission-ready instrument that re-defines the search for life... [View all]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/25/2148521/-NASA-s-got-a-mission-ready-instrument-that-redefines-the-search-for-life-in-our-Solar-System

“… what we really want to do on upcoming missions is to get much more sophisticated at analyzing samples in place” (that is, without having to retrieve them to Earth). “There really are ‘smoking-Gun’ finds we can make that would exclude every other reasonable explanation besides life (described in article). We just need the right instrumentation to do it. That means light enough, small enough, tough enough, and energy-efficient enough to endure a space flight and get by on the limited auxiliary power of a landing module.

“NASA and the University of Maryland have been collaborating on developing devices for inclusion on upcoming missions to Mars, Europa, Titan, and anywhere else there is a shot at finding current or former life. They report on the latest state-of-the-art device (this one specifically adapted to the near-future Europa Lander mission, but suitable for others too) in the January 16 issue of Nature Astronomy.

“This device is a miniaturized laser-desorption mass spectrometer (LDMS). The idea is to blast molecules off a surface with lasers and then capture them in the gas phase to analyze and identify them. …”

Article does a nice job of explaining what happens in mass spectrometry and why the newly designed instrument is just the ticket for seeking molecules that are strongly indicative of life.