Sponsor
This work was supported by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation [grant number 4037/4038].
Published In
Advances in Physics: X
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Subjects
Digital holographic microscopy
Abstract
There is no reductionist definition of life, so the way organisms look, behave, and move is the most definitive way to identify extraterrestrial life. Life elsewhere in the Solar System is likely to be microbial, but no microscope capable of imaging prokaryotic life has ever flown on a lander mission to a habitable planet. Nonetheless, high-resolution microscopes have been developed that are appropriate for planetary exploration. Traditional light microscopy, interferometric microscopy, light-field microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, and electron microscopy are all possible techniques for the detection of extant micro-organisms on Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. This article begins with a general discussion of the challenges involved in searching for prokaryotic life, then reviews instruments that have flown, that have been selected for flight but not flown or not flown yet, and developing techniques of great promise for life detection that have not yet been selected for flight.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1080/23746149.2018.1424032
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/28958
Citation Details
Nadeau, J. L., Bedrossian, M., & Lindensmith, C. A. (2018). Imaging technologies and strategies for detection of extant extraterrestrial microorganisms. Advances in Physics: X, 3(1), 1424032.
Description
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.