New Scientific Instrument Could Help Search For Life On Mars

Source: Extreme Tech, Adrianna Nine
Photo: NASA

If the tool can identify microbial fossils here on Earth, it might be able to do the same on the Red Planet.

Planetary scientists in Algeria and Switzerland have developed a scientific instrument that could help hunt for signs of life on Mars. Used to locate microbial fossils in gypsum deposits here on Earth, their prototype is expected to be a valuable addition to missions to find the first proof of extraterrestrial life on the Red Planet.

The instrument, called a laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer, delivers rapid, femtosecond-long dual pulses of light to a target, such as sediment. Every pulse ablates, or burns, a thin layer of the material. Not only does this allow scientists to gradually reveal what’s underneath the material’s surface, but what’s vaporized is ionized and analyzed based on its mass-to-charge ratio. The resulting data tells scientists which elements and isotopes are hidden within the material.

Laser ablation mass spectrometry (LIMS) is a fairly new technology, having only attracted attention from planetary scientists over the last decade or so. This particular LIMS instrument, developed by the University of Bern, was built specifically for spaceflight in the hope that it might someday seek out life—or signs of it, at least—on Mars. To make sure it worked, though, the team first had to test it on a Mars analog here on Earth.

They chose the Mediterranean’s famous gypsum formations, which formed 6 million years ago during a sharp increase in salinity dubbed the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Gypsum deposits form quickly, making them an excellent medium for fossils—the fossils form before an organism can decompose. Gypsum is also known to exist in abundance on the surface of Mars, making the Mediterranean an ideal Martian analog.

Testing their LIMS instrument on gypsum samples from Algeria’s Sidi Boutbal quarry, the researchers could distinguish between natural rock features and microbial fossils. They also identified dolomite, a dry mineral that can only collect in acidic environments when a prokaryote—a nucleus-free cell—increases its environment’s alkalinity. On Earth, this means bacteria likely existed within the gypsum.

If LIMS finds itself on a future Mars mission, it could analyze the planet’s rusty sediment deposits for similar signs of life, as well as microbial fossils themselves. This analysis would be particularly valuable along the Red Planet’s shorelines, where water might have allowed life to thrive billions of years ago.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/new-scientific-instrument-could-help-search-for-life-on-mars