P052-07
Analytical Instrumentation Techniques for the Icy Moon Penetrator Organic Analyzer(IMPOA)
Friday, 11 December 2020: 17:54
Virtual
Chinmayee Govinda Raj1, Nicholas C Speller2, Michael Cato3, Zachary A Duca3, Jungkyu Kim4, Phil Putman5, Jason Epperson6 and Amanda M. Stockton7, (1)Georgia Institute of Technology Main Campus, Atlanta, GA, United States, (2)Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Atlanta, GA, United States, (3)Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Atlanta, GA, United States, (4)Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, United States, (5)Sierra Lobo, Milan, OH, United States, (6)Staff, Huntsville, United States, (7)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Abstract:
Europa gained prominence as an astrobiological target after the discovery of a global subsurface ionic liquid water ocean, the contents of which are periodically spewed out into space. This, and the possibility of biogenic chemistries, have led to the prioritization of lander missions. Lander missions have opened up scientific opportunities that were otherwise impossible from orbit. However, traditional lander missions are bulky, costly and require notoriously complex soft lander platforms. The Icy Moon Penetrator Organic Analyzer (IMPOA) is a 6 cm diameter, 10 cm long science payload that is capable of withstanding 55,000 G impact force and is compatible with Discovery-class missions. The ability to withstand such high impact forces enables 1-10 m penetration into the ice crust enabling the sampling of pristine, radiation-shielded samples. Multiple IMPOA payloads can ride on a parent mission and be ejected to collect geographically varied samples without the need for roving capabilities.
This work improves IMPOA's analytical capabilities with the addition of optical and embedded sensor systems to characterize organic and inorganic chemical species. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection coupled with microchip capillary electrophoresis (µCE) can characterize organics, enabling identification and quantitation of potentially biogenic species, while informing subsurface habitability. The LIF system is designed to be impact resistant and uses cost-effective off-the-shelf components for easy technology transfer.
Capacitively coupled contactless conductivity (C4D) coupled with μCE enables characterization of inorganic ions which informs upon bioavailability, surface material provenance and provides information to resurfacing models that are challenging due to lack of in situ data. The expected salt composition of Europa’s surface can easily be quantified with the current C4D system, which has a lower limit of detection of 75 μM.
