A powerful approach in the search for biosignatures on extraterrestrial missions of exploration involves liquid-based chemical analysis on samples acquired from the surface of planetary bodies. These type of analyses seek biochemical signatures of life at the molecular level, as expressed in distributions of geometric and stereochemical properties of organic molecules. In order to acquire this type of data from an unkown sample, a separation step is necessary. In this regard, the separation techniques capillary electrophoresis (CE) and its miniaturized version, microchip electrophoresis (ME) overcome the limitations of gas-phase techniques and hold unique promise in the search for signatures of life on other worlds, especially for planetary targets where water is present.[1, 2] Not only does ME enable extreme sensitivity to organic compounds, but it also has minimal mass/power/volume requirements, which is essential for instrument payloads on spaceflight missions. Here we describe a system we dub The Chemical Laptop, which would provide the sample processing capabilities required for in situ analysis on extraterrestrial destinations with ultra-high sensitivity in a compact, low-mass, and low-power package. The Chemical Laptop is a truly portable, battery-powered, automated, and reprogrammable microchip electrophoresis instrument coupled to laser-induced fluorescence detection.[3] This instrument concept could be adapted to the environmental requirements of a variety of astrobiologically interesting targets like Europa, Enceladus, or Titan. This system also serves as a general prototype that could be reprogrammed for terrestrial-based analyses as well.

Microchip electrophoresis hardware for spaceflight missions of exploration

2019 Spring National Meeting

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