New NASA Test Uses Amino Acids to Detect Alien Life

NASA scientists have devised a new test to detect the presence of alien life on other planets. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists are working on this technique that could be 10,000 times more sensitive that the current methods used by spacecraft and rovers.

Scientists are now focusing on detecting specific amino acids that are linked to alien life. Researchers have proposed a technique that involves mixing a liquid sample obtained from the surface of the alien world with a chemical called a liquid reagent. By placing a laser across this mixture, the molecules will be seen making different kinds of movement as they are exposed to an electric field. 

The entire laser process and the molecule movement along with the identification of amino acids can be carried out by robotic rovers or spacecraft without any help of a human. This new technique is called as "capillary electrophoresis." It can be used to detect many kinds of amino acids in one test.

According to Jessica Creamer of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this method is a significant improvement on past attempts. This is because it increases the number of amino acids that can be detected in a single run of testing.

Also, this test will allow scientists to detect amino acids despite very low concentrations even in high salt content samples, using this basic "mix and analyze" process.

 The team initially tested this method using water samples taken from Mono Lake in California which has extreme alkaline content and very salty water. The results revealed 17 different amino acids in one test.

According to principal investigator Peter Willis of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with this method, we can now tell the difference between amino acids from living and non-living sources like those found in meteorites and living organisms.

More specifically, amino acids can be distinguished as "left or right handed" depending on their chirality, which is their distinct mirror image property. Non-organic amino acids are equal in left and right chirality while amino acids from organisms are more left-handed, such as those found on Earth. Now, this new method can detect the amino acid's chirality using capillary electrophoresis.

NASA scientists say that this method will be utilized in future missions to Mars and Jupiter's moon Europa during robotic expeditions.

This new study was published in the journal, Analytical Chemistry.