Lab-on-a-Chip System Development for Robotic Exploration of Titan and Mars at JPL's Microdevices Laboratory

<B>Abstract:</B>
Titan and Mars are two particularly interesting Solar System targets that can (and have) been explored robotically. However our understanding of the complex chemistries taking place on these worlds is still largely incomplete. Miniaturized lab-on-a-chip chemical analysis laboratories have the mass, volume, and power requirements that make them ideal for this application. In this talk I will present a brief overview of our efforts in this context. We focus our efforts on instruments for the payloads of two mission concepts: a floating lander that splashes down in a lake on Titan and sips samples from overboard, and a wheeled rover that acquires Martian samples with a drill. These explorers aim to unravel the rich prebiotic chemical syntheses that take place on Titan, and determine whether current or past life exists on Mars.

Date/Time: 
11/01/2009 - 16:00