Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Madrid, Spain.
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca New York, USA.
Astrobiology. 2020 Sep;20(9):1076-1096. doi: 10.1089/ast.2019.2167. Epub 2020 Aug 26.
Organic chemistry is ubiquitous in the Solar System, and both Mars and a number of icy satellites of the outer Solar System show substantial promise for having hosted or hosting life. Here, we propose a novel astrobiologically focused instrument suite that could be included as scientific payload in future missions to Mars or the icy moons: the Complex Molecules Detector, or CMOLD. CMOLD is devoted to determining different levels of prebiotic/biotic chemical and structural targets following a chemically general approach (, valid for both terrestrial and nonterrestrial life), as well as their compatibility with terrestrial life. CMOLD is based on a microfluidic block that distributes a liquid suspension sample to three instruments by using complementary technologies: (1) novel microscopic techniques for identifying ultrastructures and cell-like morphologies, (2) Raman spectroscopy for detecting universal intramolecular complexity that leads to biochemical functionality, and (3) bioaffinity-based systems (including antibodies and aptamers as capture probes) for finding life-related and nonlife-related molecular structures. We highlight our current developments to make this type of instruments flight-ready for upcoming Mars missions: the Raman spectrometer included in the science payload of the ESAs Rosalind Franklin rover (Raman Laser Spectrometer instrument) to be launched in 2022, and the biomarker detector that was included as payload in the NASA Icebreaker lander mission proposal (SOLID instrument). CMOLD is a robust solution that builds on the combination of three complementary, existing techniques to cover a wide spectrum of targets in the search for (bio)chemical complexity in the Solar System.
有机化学在太阳系中无处不在，火星和太阳系外的一些冰冷卫星都有很大的希望曾经或正在孕育生命。在这里，我们提出了一种新的、专注于天体生物学的仪器套件，如果未来的火星或冰冷卫星任务携带科学有效载荷，它可以包括在其中：复杂分子探测器（Complex Molecules Detector，简称 CMOLD）。CMOLD 致力于采用通用化学方法（适用于地球生命和非地球生命），以及确定不同水平的前生物/生物化学和结构目标，以及它们与地球生命的兼容性。CMOLD 基于一个微流控模块，该模块通过使用互补技术将液体悬浮样品分配到三个仪器中：（1）用于识别超微结构和类似细胞形态的新型微观技术；（2）用于检测导致生化功能的普遍分子内复杂性的拉曼光谱；（3）基于生物亲和力的系统（包括抗体和适体作为捕获探针），用于寻找与生命相关和非生命相关的分子结构。我们强调了我们目前的发展，以使这种类型的仪器为即将到来的火星任务做好飞行准备：包括在 2022 年发射的欧洲航天局罗莎琳德·富兰克林漫游者（Raman Laser Spectrometer 仪器）科学有效载荷中的拉曼光谱仪，以及包括在 NASA 破冰者着陆器任务提案（SOLID 仪器）中的生物标志物探测器。CMOLD 是一种稳健的解决方案，它基于三种互补的现有技术相结合，涵盖了太阳系中（生物）化学复杂性搜索的广泛目标。
