Development status of the life marker chip instrument for ExoMars

被引:35
作者
Sims, Mark R. [1 ]
Cullen, David C. [2 ]
Rix, Catherine S. [2 ]
Buckley, Alan [2 ]
Derveni, Mariliza [2 ]
Evans, Daniel [2 ]
Garcia-Con, Luis Miguel [2 ]
Rhodes, Andrew [2 ]
Rato, Carla C. [2 ]
Stefinovic, Marijan [2 ]
Sephton, Mark A. [3 ]
Court, Richard W. [3 ]
Bulloch, Christopher [4 ]
Kitchingman, Ian [4 ]
Ali, Zeshan [4 ]
Pullan, Derek [1 ]
Holt, John [1 ]
Blake, Oliver [1 ]
Sykes, Jonathan [1 ]
Samara-Ratna, Piyal [1 ]
Canali, Massimiliano [1 ]
Borst, Guus [5 ]
Leeuwis, Henk [6 ]
Prak, Albert [6 ]
Norfini, Aleandro [7 ]
Geraci, Ennio [7 ]
Tavanti, Marco [7 ]
Brucato, John [8 ]
Holm, Nils [9 ]
机构
[1] Univ Leicester, Dept Phys & Astron, Space Res Ctr, Leicester LE1 7RH, Leics, England
[2] Cranfield Univ, Cranfield Hlth, Cranfield MK43 0AL, Beds, England
[3] Univ London Imperial Coll Sci Technol & Med, Dept Earth Sci & Engn, London SW7 2AZ, England
[4] Magna Parva Ltd, Leicester LE19 1WY, Leics, England
[5] Dutch Space BV, NL-2333 CS Leiden, Netherlands
[6] Lionix BV, NL-7522 NH Enschede, Netherlands
[7] Kayser Italia Srl, I-57128 Livorno, Italy
[8] INAF Osservatorio Astrofis Arcetri, I-50125 Florence, Italy
[9] Stockholm Univ, Dept Geol Sci, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
关键词
Mars; ExoMars; Extraterrestrial life; Astrobiology; Life Marker Chip; MARS; ATMOSPHERE; METHANE;
D O I
10.1016/j.pss.2012.04.007
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
The Life Marker Chip (LMC) is one of the instruments being developed for possible flight on the 2018 ExoMars mission. The instrument uses solvents to extract organic compounds from samples of martian regolith and to transfer the extracts to dedicated detectors based around the use of antibodies. The scientific aims of the instrument are to detect organics in the form of biomarkers that might be associated with extinct life, extant life or abiotic sources of organics. The instrument relies on a novel surfactant-based solvent system and bespoke, commercial and research-developed antibodies against a number of distinct biomarkers or molecular types. The LMC comprises of a number of subsystems designed to accept up to four discrete samples of martian regolith or crushed rock, implement the solvent extraction, perform microfluidic-based multiplexed antibody-assays for biomarkers and other targets, optically detect the fluorescent output of the assays, control the internal instrument pressure and temperature, in addition to the associated instrument control electronics and software. The principle of operation, the design and the instrument development status as of December 2011 are reported here. The instrument principle can be extended to other configurations and missions as needed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:129 / 137
页数:9
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