MOAB is a rapidly maturing miniaturized microfluidic organic chemical and biochemical analyzer that will sensitively analyze Europa surface ice samples or Enceladus/Europa plume samples for amine, amino acid, and carboxylic acid biomarkers at the sensitivity thought necessary to detect indications of past or present life (1). This instrument exploits the concepts first developed at Berkeley to label sets of organic molecules with functional group specific fluorescent dye labels followed by high resolution microfabricated capillary electrophoresis separations for identification and quantitation (2). Our portable instrument prototype was first successfully field tested in the Atacama Desert to detect amino acid biomarkers over 10 years ago (3). Chemistries for analyzing organic molecules with a variety of functional groups and for dealing with high salt and high/low pH were also determined in our early work (4). Now instrument development at the Berkeley Space Sciences Lab is focused on TRL advancement of the core analyzer to TRL 7 and on the development of effective sample acquisition systems. In particular, modeling and light gas gun experiments will be presented testing sample capture chamber designs that should provide effective capture of particles in a fly-by mission at transit velocities ranging from 100 m/s to 2 km/s. Novel sample capture surfaces and sample transport mechanisms enable the determination of the abundances and patterns of organic biomarker compounds with a sensitivity approaching 1 picomole per gram plume ice. This can also be stated as a limiting detection of 10 nanomolar organics in the plume ice or a 1 ppb detection limit. Our capture system can also provide sample extracts to other instruments. The miniaturized MOAB instrument has size, mass (3400 cc, 2.8 kg) and power requirements that can be accommodated in a variety of ways in a Europa Lander or in an Enceladus fly-by mission. http://eoa.ssl.berkeley.edu

Microfabricated Organic Analyzer for Biosignatures (MOAB)

2019 Spring National Meeting

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