Quantitative Analysis of Inorganic Chemical Species on an Impact-Penetrator Module
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Govindaraj, Chinmayee
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Abstract
In-situ planetary missions to astrobiologically relevant icy worlds with unique access to subsurface samples for habitability analyses are typically carried out using complex and costly soft lander platforms that are large, heavy and power-intensive. Smaller, more power-efficient, lower cost payloads like impactors and penetrators are innovative ways to address these issues.
The Ice Shell Impact-Penetrator (IceShIP) is a penetrator science payload under development since 2015. Icy Moon Penetrator Organic Analyzer (IMPOA), is a sub payload of IceShIP, and is a first-of-its-kind, compact science platform capable of sustaining ultra high-g loads of up to 50,000 g, enabling subsurface sampling on icy ocean worlds like Europa, Enceladus, or even Martian polar regions. The IMPOA platform can enable detection of low concentration organic species using the principle of laser-induced fluorescence. To upgrade the impact resistance of the IMPOA payload, several design changes were made, the most prominent of them was to move away from glass microfluidic chip design to polymer-based architecture.
To upgrade the scientific capabilities of IceShIP, inorganic detection capability was added by employing the principle of capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D). The benchtop instrument was tested using lab-generated Europa-relevant samples, and miniaturized to fit within the IceShIP module. This was named the Micro Inorganic Conductivity Detector for Europa (MicroICE). A complete polymer body version of MicroICE was designed and tested, called the Polymer-based Contactless conductivity Detector for Europan Salts (PolyCODES). PolyCODES is the first C4D device to use the PEDOT:PSS conductive polymer and was a design choice made to increase the potential for impact resistance. MicroICE was equipped with an automated, two-channel microfluidic routing mechanism, called the Solenoid-based actuator assembly for Impact- Penetrators (SIP). The SIP, integrated with MicroICE or PolyCODES demonstrated a low mass, small size, low power instrument at TRL 3. The upgraded IceShIP canister is geared towards high acceleration space flight missions. Future design upgrades could include the integration of microchip capillary electrophoresis. Success during impact tests of components configured to functionally conduct analytical measurements will elevate the readiness to a true TRL of 4 value.
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2023-04-27
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Dissertation