A team led by the University of Maryland created a miniature analyzer that could fundamentally alter how distant moons and planets are investigated for signs of life.
, a group of researchers made a new instrument for NASA space missions as part of the study. Their small, laser-powered analyzer can still look at samples of a planet's material and possible signs of life on the spot.
“You can find them in the labs of pharmaceutical, medical and proteomic industries. The one in my own lab is just under 400 pounds, so they’re quite large, and it took us eight years to make a prototype that could be used efficiently in space—significantly smaller and less resource-intensive but still capable of cutting-edge science,” he added.Researchers made a new device smaller than the original Orbitrap and combined it with. This technique has never been used on a planet outside of Earth.
“This tool has such a high mass resolution and accuracy that any molecular or chemical structures in a sample become much more identifiable,” he added.Researchers now have access to larger, more complex molecules that are more likely to be linked to biology because of the laser component of the small LDMS Orbitrap. For example, amino acids are a less clear sign of life than larger organic molecules.
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