OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ASTROBIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE JOVIAN MOON EUROPA IS INCREASING BY THE DAY. TELESCOPIC AND FLYBY MISSION DATA STRONGLY SUGGEST THE PRESENCE OF AN IONIC GLOBAL SUBSURFACE LIQUID OCEAN CONTAINING POTENTIALLY BIOGENIC CHEMISTRIES. RECENT EFFORTS TO PRIORITIZE LANDER MISSIONS INCLUDING THE EUROPA LANDER HAS OPENED UP A PLETHORA OF SCIENTIFIC OPPORTUNITIES THAT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN EXPLORED EXCEPT FROM THE SURFACE. THROUGH THIS WORK I PROPOSE TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT LOW POWER COMPACT LOW MASS LOW COST AND HIGHLY SENSITIVE ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTATION TECHNIQUES FOR ORGANIC AND INORGANIC ANALYSIS OF EUROPA S SUBSURFACE ICE. THESE INSTRUMENTS WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH A DISCOVERY-CLASS MISSION VIA THE ICY MOON PENETRATOR ORGANIC ANALYZER (IMPOA A NASA PICASSO FUNDED PROJECT) INSTRUMENT PLATFORM THAT IS CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING EXTREMELY HIGH IMPACT FORCES. ICE CRUST PENETRATION OCCURS UPON IMPACT THEREBY AVOIDING COMPLEX SOFT LANDING AND ICE DRILLING CAPABILITIES. A TYPICAL DISCOVERY-CLASS PAYLOAD CAN APPROXIMATELY CONTAIN SIXTEEN IMPOA PAYLOADS. UPON IMPACT OF THE DISCOVERY MISSION PAYLOAD IMPOA PAYLOADS CAN BE EJECTED TO OCCUPY A LARGER AREA THEREBY COLLECTING GEOGRAPHICALLY VARIED SAMPLES. I WILL BE BUILDING A CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS-LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE (CE-LIF) SYSTEM FOR QUANTITATIVE COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS OF AMINO ACIDS AND CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS-CAPACITIVELY COUPLED CONTACTLESS CONDUCTIVITY DETECTOR (CE-C4D) SYSTEM FOR ANALYSIS OF SALTS. CHARACTERIZING AMINO ACIDS ADDS TO OUR ABILITY TO IDENTIFY POTENTIALLY BIOGENIC COMPOUNDS THEIR ORIGIN HISTORY AND SUBSURFACE HABITABILITY. CHARACTERIZING SALTS WILL HELP WITH DETERMINING BIOVIABILITY SURFACE MATERIAL PROVENANCE AND FEED INFORMATION INTO RESURFACING MODELS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN BUILT DUE TO LACK OF IN SITU DATA. THE INSTRUMENTATION TECHNIQUES DISCUSSED CAN BE INCORPORATED INTO ANY LANDER MISSION THAT FOCUSES ON ORGANIC AND INORGANIC ANALYSIS INCLUDING EUROPA ENCELADUS OR EVEN THE MARTIAN POLAR ICE CAPS.
$107,053FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
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