Cargando…

Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life

Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, is a compelling destination for a probe seeking biosignatures of extraterrestrial life because its subsurface ocean exhibits significant organic chemistry that is directly accessible by sampling cryovolcanic plumes. State-of-the-art organic chemical analysis instrum...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: New, James S., Kazemi, Bahar, Spathis, Vassilia, Price, Mark C., Mathies, Richard A., Butterworth, Anna L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8449353/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34493668
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106197118
_version_ 1784569410907799552
author New, James S.
Kazemi, Bahar
Spathis, Vassilia
Price, Mark C.
Mathies, Richard A.
Butterworth, Anna L.
author_facet New, James S.
Kazemi, Bahar
Spathis, Vassilia
Price, Mark C.
Mathies, Richard A.
Butterworth, Anna L.
author_sort New, James S.
collection PubMed
description Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, is a compelling destination for a probe seeking biosignatures of extraterrestrial life because its subsurface ocean exhibits significant organic chemistry that is directly accessible by sampling cryovolcanic plumes. State-of-the-art organic chemical analysis instruments can perform valuable science measurements at Enceladus provided they receive sufficient plume material in a fly-by or orbiter plume transit. To explore the feasibility of plume sampling, we performed light gas gun experiments impacting micrometer-sized ice particles containing a fluorescent dye biosignature simulant into a variety of soft metal capture surfaces at velocities from 800 m ⋅ s(−1) up to 3 km ⋅ s(−1). Quantitative fluorescence microscopy of the capture surfaces demonstrates organic capture efficiencies of up to 80 to 90% for isolated impact craters and of at least 17% on average on indium and aluminum capture surfaces at velocities up to 2.2 km ⋅ s(−1). Our results reveal the relationships between impact velocity, particle size, capture surface, and capture efficiency for a variety of possible plume transit scenarios. Combined with sensitive microfluidic chemical analysis instruments, we predict that our capture system can be used to detect organic molecules in Enceladus plume ice at the 1 nM level—a sensitivity thought to be meaningful and informative for probing habitability and biosignatures.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8449353
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher National Academy of Sciences
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-84493532021-10-04 Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life New, James S. Kazemi, Bahar Spathis, Vassilia Price, Mark C. Mathies, Richard A. Butterworth, Anna L. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Physical Sciences Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, is a compelling destination for a probe seeking biosignatures of extraterrestrial life because its subsurface ocean exhibits significant organic chemistry that is directly accessible by sampling cryovolcanic plumes. State-of-the-art organic chemical analysis instruments can perform valuable science measurements at Enceladus provided they receive sufficient plume material in a fly-by or orbiter plume transit. To explore the feasibility of plume sampling, we performed light gas gun experiments impacting micrometer-sized ice particles containing a fluorescent dye biosignature simulant into a variety of soft metal capture surfaces at velocities from 800 m ⋅ s(−1) up to 3 km ⋅ s(−1). Quantitative fluorescence microscopy of the capture surfaces demonstrates organic capture efficiencies of up to 80 to 90% for isolated impact craters and of at least 17% on average on indium and aluminum capture surfaces at velocities up to 2.2 km ⋅ s(−1). Our results reveal the relationships between impact velocity, particle size, capture surface, and capture efficiency for a variety of possible plume transit scenarios. Combined with sensitive microfluidic chemical analysis instruments, we predict that our capture system can be used to detect organic molecules in Enceladus plume ice at the 1 nM level—a sensitivity thought to be meaningful and informative for probing habitability and biosignatures. National Academy of Sciences 2021-09-14 2021-09-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8449353/ /pubmed/34493668 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106197118 Text en Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Physical Sciences
New, James S.
Kazemi, Bahar
Spathis, Vassilia
Price, Mark C.
Mathies, Richard A.
Butterworth, Anna L.
Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life
title Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life
title_full Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life
title_fullStr Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life
title_full_unstemmed Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life
title_short Quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at Enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life
title_sort quantitative evaluation of the feasibility of sampling the ice plumes at enceladus for biomarkers of extraterrestrial life
topic Physical Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8449353/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34493668
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106197118
work_keys_str_mv AT newjamess quantitativeevaluationofthefeasibilityofsamplingtheiceplumesatenceladusforbiomarkersofextraterrestriallife
AT kazemibahar quantitativeevaluationofthefeasibilityofsamplingtheiceplumesatenceladusforbiomarkersofextraterrestriallife
AT spathisvassilia quantitativeevaluationofthefeasibilityofsamplingtheiceplumesatenceladusforbiomarkersofextraterrestriallife
AT pricemarkc quantitativeevaluationofthefeasibilityofsamplingtheiceplumesatenceladusforbiomarkersofextraterrestriallife
AT mathiesricharda quantitativeevaluationofthefeasibilityofsamplingtheiceplumesatenceladusforbiomarkersofextraterrestriallife
AT butterworthannal quantitativeevaluationofthefeasibilityofsamplingtheiceplumesatenceladusforbiomarkersofextraterrestriallife