Scientists develop more sensitive instruments, NASA has expressed interest

[ Instrument network instrument research and development ] Are there other life in the universe? I haven't found it yet. Is it because our equipment is not sensitive enough to detect it?

Now, researchers at the University of Bern have developed a highly sensitive ORIGIN instrument that can provide the smallest amount of evidence of life signs for future space missions. Space agencies such as NASA have expressed interest in testing ORIGIN in future missions. For example, the instrument can be used to perform Europa (Jupiter) and Enceladus (Saturn) ice missions.

Whether there is life outside the earth is one of the most basic questions of mankind. For example, future NASA missions aim to examine the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, which may shelter life in the liquid ocean beneath the thick layer of ice on the surface. However, it is challenging to prove the traces of life beyond the earth. Highly sensitive instruments are required to perform high-precision measurements at a distance of millions of kilometers from the earth, so that there is no need for direct human support.

Under the leadership of Andreas Rido and Niels Litlink of the University of Bern, an international research team developed "ORIGIN", a mass spectrometer that can detect and identify the smallest number of lives trace. They described the instrument in a recent article published in the professional journal Natural Science Reports. Niels Ligterink from the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) is the first author of this international study, and co-author Andreas Riedo from the Institute of Physics, University of Bern (Andreas Riedo) developed the instrument in the laboratory of the Space Research and Planetary Science Department of the Institute of Physics. Various international space agencies, especially NASA, have expressed interest in testing ORIGIN in future missions.

New instrument requirements

Since the first Mars mission "Viking Project" in the 1970s, humans have been using specialized instruments installed on landing platforms and rover to search for traces of life on Mars. In the early days, Mars was similar to Earth, with a dense atmosphere and even liquid water. However, as Niels Litlink explained, over time, Mars lost its protective atmosphere: “Therefore, the surface of Mars is subject to intense solar and cosmic radiation, which makes it impossible for the surface of Mars to have Life exists.” NASA’s Curiosity rover is currently conducting a detailed inspection of Mars, but so far no specific signs of life have been found.

Since "Cassini" and "Galileo" discovered the ocean under the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus, these two celestial bodies have increasingly become the focus of researchers looking for extraterrestrial life. According to current knowledge, the ocean has all the characteristics, which are not only necessary for the existence of life, but also provide an environment in which life can exist for a long time. Therefore, NASA plans to land on Jupiter’s moon Europa around 2030 and make measurements on the ground. Goal: identification with life. Professor Peter Wurz from the Institute of Physics of the University of Bern said: “The concept developed specifically for Mars cannot be simply applied to other celestial bodies in our solar system because they are completely different. It must be designed and used with higher sensitivity and simpler and more robust. New instrument for analysis system."

Better measurement sensitivity to prove the existence of life in space

ORIGIN is such a new instrument, its measurement sensitivity is better than previous space instruments in many aspects. International space agencies have expressed great interest in using this tool for future missions. Andreas Leto said. "NASA invited us to test our instruments in the North Pole. The North Pole is a better test environment for the Europa lander mission, which will begin in 2025, which will allow us to demonstrate the performance of ORIGIN."

"As we know on Earth, amino acids are a key component of life. At the same time, there are also evidences of the existence of certain amino acids on the outer surface of the earth (such as Europa), which allows us to conclude that life may exist. Conclusion. The measurement principle developed by the Bonn researchers is very simple.” Litlink explained, “The laser pulse is directed to the surface to be inspected. In this process, a small amount of material is separated and the chemical composition is analyzed in the second step. Andreas Riedo added: "The compelling aspect of our technology is that we don’t need complex sample preparation techniques, which may affect the results. This is by far one of the biggest problems on Mars." So far, the amino acids analyzed for the source of amino acids have a special chemical fingerprint that can directly identify them. Litlink explained: "To be honest, we didn't expect our first measurement to be able to identify amino acids."

The discovery of past or present traces of life in the solar system other than the earth is of great significance for a better understanding of the existence and origin of life in the universe. Riedo concluded: "Our new measurement technology is a real improvement on the instruments currently used in space missions. If we are taken to future missions, we may be able to answer one of the most basic questions about the origin of mankind: space Is there life in it?"