Abstract
The study of planetary environments of astrobiological interest has become a major challenge. Because of the obvious technical and economical limitations on in situ planetary exploration, laboratory simulations are one of the most feasible research options to make advances both in planetary science and in developing a consistent description of the origin of life. With this objective in mind, we applied vacuum technology to the design of versatile vacuum chambers devoted to the simulation of planetary atmospheres’ conditions. These vacuum chambers are able to simulate atmospheres and surface temperatures representative of the majority of planetary objects, and they are especially appropriate for studying the physical, chemical and biological changes induced in a particular sample by in situ irradiation or physical parameters in a controlled environment. Vacuum chambers are a promising potential tool in several scientific and technological fields, such as engineering, chemistry, geology and biology. They also offer the possibility of discriminating between the effects of individual physical parameters and selected combinations thereof. The implementation of our vacuum chambers in combination with analytical techniques was specifically developed to make feasible the in situ physico-chemical characterization of samples. Many wide-ranging applications in astrobiology are detailed herein to provide an understanding of the potential and flexibility of these experimental systems. Instruments and engineering technology for space applications could take advantage of our environment-simulation chambers for sensor calibration. Our systems also provide the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the chemical reactivity of molecules on surfaces under different environments, thereby leading to a greater understanding of interface processes in prebiotic chemical reactions and facilitating studies of UV photostability and photochemistry on surfaces. Furthermore, the stability and presence of certain minerals on planetary surfaces and the potential habitability of microorganisms under various planetary environmental conditions can be studied using our apparatus. Therefore, these simulation chambers can address multiple different challenging and multidisciplinary astrobiological studies.
Highlights
A vacuum is a region from which air and other gases have been removed and with a pressure much less than the surface pressure on earth
The reasons for this are several-fold: first, many samples react with gases at atmospheric pressure, which means that they must be kept in a clean environment under vacuum conditions; second, many of the experimental techniques used to measure sample properties need vacuum conditions to operate and the ability to establish a vacuum allows for the chamber to be filled with the gases required to simulate a desired planetary atmosphere
The near-UV irradiation of the basalt dust on Mars was experimentally simulated to determine the transmittance of the dust as a function of its mass and thickness
Summary
A vacuum is a region from which air and other gases have been removed and with a pressure much less than the surface pressure on earth. The Planetary Atmosphere and Surfaces Chamber (PASC) [8] is a versatile planetary-simulation chamber that is capable of producing environments with computer-controlled gas compositions, pressure in the atmosphere and sample temperatures that can be representative of most of the planets in the Solar System This equipment was developed to make feasible the in situ irradiation and physico-chemical characterization of samples. The photostability or molecular damage of nucleobases and peptide biomolecules under UV irradiation has been investigated [11,13] These studies confirm the significance of simulation-chamber facilities as an emerging type of instrumentation for the emulation of planetary conditions and the assessment of various multidisciplinary, astrobiologically relevant scenarios (Figure 1)
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