Overview of the Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR) New Frontiers Mission

The Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR) mission was selected by the NASA New Frontiers Program for Phase A study in December 2017. CAESAR will acquire and return to Earth for laboratory analysis a minimum of 80 grams of surface material from the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). CAESAR will characterize the surface region sampled, preserve the collected sample in a pristine state, and return evolved volatiles by capturing them in a separate gas reservoir. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides project management, systems engineering, safety and mission assurance, contamination control, mission operations, and many other important functions. Northrop Grumman Information Systems (formerly Orbital ATK) will build the spacecraft, based on Dawn mission heritage, which like CAESAR, uses solar electric propulsion

Nanoflow Separation of Amino Acids for the Analysis of Cosmic Dust

The delivery of amino acids to the early Earth by interplanetary dust particles, comets, and carbonaceous meteorites could have been a significant source of the early Earth's prebiotic organic inventory. Amino acids are central to modern terrestrial biochemistry as major components of proteins and enzymes and were probably vital in the origin of life. A variety of amino acids have been detected in the CM carbonaceous meteorite Murchison, many of which are exceptionally rare in the terrestrial biosphere including a-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) and isovaline. AIB has also been detected in a small percentage of Antarctic micrometeorite grains believed to be related to the CM meteorites We report on progress in optimizing a nanoflow liquid chromatography separation system with dual detection via laser-induced-fluorescence time of flight mass spectrometry (nLC-LIF/ToF-MS) for the analysis of o-phthaldialdehydelN-acetyl-L-cysteine (OPA/NAC) labeled amino acids in cosmic dust grains. The very low flow rates (0.1 ml/min) combined with 4 orders of magnitude lower than traditional GC-MS techniques), and specificity (compounds identities are determined by both retention time and exact mass) makes this a compelling technique. However, the development of an analytical method to achieve separation of compounds as structurally similar as amino acid monomers and produce the sharp peaks required for maximum sensitivity is challenging

Thermochemolysis: A New Sample Preparation Approach for the Detection of Organic Components of Complex Macromolecules in Mars Rocks via Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry in SAM on MSL

Organic chemicals, when present in extraterrestrial samples, afford precious insight into past and modern conditions elsewhere in the Solar System . No single technology identifies all molecular components because naturally occurring molecules have different chemistries (e.g., polar vs. non-polar, low to high molecular weight) and interface with the ambient sample chemistry in a variety of modes (i.e., organics may be bonded, absorbed or trapped by minerals, liquids, gases, or other organics). More than 90% of organic matter in most natural samples on Earth and in meteorites is composed of complex macromolecules (e.g. biopolymers, complex biomolecules, humic substances, kerogen) because the processes that tend to break down organic molecules also tend towards complexation of the more recalcitrant components. Thus, methodologies that tap the molecular information contained within macromolecules may be critical to detecting extraterrestrial organic matter and assessing the sources and processes influencing its nature

Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds in the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) 73002 Core Sample

Understanding the organic content of lunar regolith was an early priority upon the return of Apollo samples, with amino acids being of special interest because of their importance to life on Earth and their astrobiological relevance. Many initial studies focused on the detection of amino acids in these samples and attempts to determine the origin of those compounds. Although no consensus on the origin of the amino acids was reached in those early studies, more recent work determined that the detected amino acids originated from both terrestrial contamination and meteoritic or cometary in fall to the lunar surface. A majority of the amino acids in the Apollo samples studied originated from precursor molecules, either indigenous to the lunar samples or contaminants, that reacted during the water extraction and acid hydrolysis process for analysis in the laboratory, but the identities of the amino acid precursors still remain poorly understood. Such precursors could include hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and other volatile organic compounds such as amines, carboxylic acids, or aldehydes and ketones. The identities of these compounds, as well as the effects of years of curation on their abundances in lunar regolith samples stored at ambient temperature under nitrogen gas purge, are not clear. The specially curated samples available through the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program provide a unique opportunity to use state-of- the-art analytical techniques to examine previously unstudied lunar materials. The ANGSA samples include three types of samples: 1) samples stored frozen since <1 month after Earth arrival; 2) samples stored under helium; and 3) a double drive tube collected by Apollo 17 astronauts, with the bottom portion of the drive tube sealed under vacuum on the Moon and never opened. In contrast to the typically curated Apollo samples that have been kept for decades at room temperature under flowing nitrogen purge that may have significantly reduced the abundance of volatiles, the vacuum-sealed and frozen samples may have enhanced preservation of these volatiles. Our initial investigation examines amino acids and their potential volatile precursors, including hydrogen cyanide (HCN), aldehydes, ketones, amines, and mono-carboxylic acids, in a sample from the top portion of the Apollo 17 double drive tube. These results will aid in understanding the lunar abundances of these molecules and will also be compared to future analyses of other drive tube and frozen ANGSA samples

Controlling the Spin Polarization of the Electron Current in a Semimagnetic Resonant-Tunneling Diode

The spin filtering effect of the electron current in a double-barrier resonant-tunneling diode (RTD) consisting of ZnMnSe semimagnetic layers has been studied theoretically. The influence of the distribution of the magnesium ions on the coefficient of the spin polarization of the electron current has been investigated. The dependence of the spin filtering degree of the electron current on the external magnetic field and the bias voltage has been obtained. The effect of the total spin polarization of the electron current has been predicted. This effect is characterized by total suppression of the spin-up component of electron current, that takes place when the Fermi level coincides with the lowest Landau level for spin-up electrons in the RTD semimagnetic emitter

Cometary Glycine Detected in Stardust-Returned Samples

In January 2006, NASA's Stardust spacecraft returned samples from comet 81P/Wild 2 to Earth. The Stardust cometary collector consisted of aerogel cells lined with aluminum foils designed to capture impacting particles and facilitate removal of the aerogel. Preliminary examinations of these comet-exposed materials revealed a suite of organic compounds, including several amines and amino acids which were later examined in more detail. Methylamine (NH2CH3) and ethylamine (NH2C2H5) were detected in the exposed aerogel at concentrations greatly exceeding those found in control samples, while the amino acid glycine (NH2CH2COOH) was detected in several foil samples as well as in the comet-exposed aerogel. None of these three compounds had been previously detected in comets, although methylamine had been observed in the interstellar medium. Although comparison with control samples suggested that the detected glycine was cometary. the previous work was not able to conclusively identify its origin. Here, we present the results of compound-specific carbon isotopic analysis of glycine in Stardust cometary collector foils. Several foils from the interstellar side of the Stardust collector were also analyzed for amino acid abundance, but concentrations were too low to perform isotopic ana!ysis

The Effects of Thermal Metamorphism on the Amino Acid Content of the CI-Like Chondrite Y-86029

Carbonaceous chondrites con-tain a diverse suite of amino acids that varies in abundance and structural diversity depending on the degree of aqueous alteration and thermal histo-ry that the parent body experienced [1 - 3]. We recently determined the amino acid contents of several fragments of the Sutter's Mill CM2 chon-drite [4]. In contrast with most other CM2 chon-drites, the Sutter's Mill meteorites showed minimal evidence for the presence of indigenous amino acids. A notable difference between the Sutter's Mill meteorites and other CM2 chondrites are that the Sutter's Mill stones were heated to tempera-tures of 150 - 400 C [4], whereas most other CM2 chondrites do not show evidence for thermal met-amorphism [5]. Because empirical studies have shown that amino acids rapidly degrade in aqueous solutions above 150 C and the presence of miner-als accelerates this degradation [6], a plausible explanation for the lack of amino acids observed in the Sutter's Mill meteorites is that they were destroyed during metamorphic alteration. Fewer CI chondrites have been analyzed for amino acids because only a small number of these meteorites have been recovered. Nevertheless, indigenous amino acids have been reported in the CI chondrites Ivuna and Orgueil [7]. Here we report on the amino acid analysis of the CI-like chondrite, Yamato 86029 (Y-86029; sample size of 110 mg). Just as the Sutter's Mill meteorites were thermally metamporphosed CM2 chondrites, Y-86029 has experienced thermal metamorphism at higher temperatures than Orgueil and Ivuna (normal CI chondrites) experienced, possibly up to 600 C [8]

Fungal Peptaibiotics: Assessing Potential Meteoritic Amino Acid Contamination

The presence of non-protein alpha-dialkyl-amino acids such as alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (alpha-A1B) and isovaline (Iva), which are relatively rare in the terrestrial biosphere, has long been used as an indication of the indigeneity of meteoritic amino acids, however, the discovery of alpha-AIB in peptides producers by a widespread group of filamentous fungi indicates the possibility of a terrestrial biotic source for the alpha-AIB observed in some meteorites. The alpha-AIB-containing peptides produced by these fungi are dubbed peptaibiotics. We measured the molecular distribution and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios for amino acids found in the total hydrolysates of four biologically synthesized peptaibiotics. We compared these aneasurenetts with those from the CM2 carbonaceous chondrite Murchison and from three Antarctic CR2 carbonaceous chondrites in order to understand the peptaibiotics as a potential source of meteoritic contamination

Parent Body Influences on Amino Acids in the Tagish Lake Meteorite

The Tagish Lake meteorite is a primitive C2 carbonaceous chondrite with a mineralogy, oxygen isotope, and bulk chemical. However, in contrast to many CI and CM carbonaceous chondrites, the Tagish Lake meteorite was reported to have only trace levels of indigenous amino acids, with evidence for terrestrial L-amino acid contamination from the Tagish Lake meltwater. The lack of indigenous amino acids in Tagish Lake suggested that they were either destroyed during parent body alteration processes and/or the Tagish Lake meteorite originated on a chemically distinct parent body from CI and CM meteorites where formation of amino acids was less favorable. We recently measured the amino acid composition of three different lithologies (11h, 5b, and 11i) of pristine Tagish Lake meteorite fragments that represent a range of progressive aqueous alteration in order 11h < 5b < 11i as inferred from the mineralogy, petrology, bulk isotopes, and insoluble organic matter structure. The distribution and enantiomeric abundances of the one- to six-carbon aliphatic amino acids found in hot-water extracts of the Tagish Lake fragments were determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography fluorescence detection and time of flight mass spectrometry coupled with OPA/NAC derivatization. Stable carbon isotope analyses of the most abundant amino acids in 11h were measured with gas chromatography coupled with quadrupole mass spectrometry and isotope ratio mass spectrometry