DEVELOPING NEXT GENERATION TECHNIQUES FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANICS IN RETURNED SAMPLES

DEVELOPING NEXT GENERATION TECHNIQUES FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANICS IN RETURNED SAMPLESWE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP NEXT GENERATION TECHNIQUES FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANICS IN RETURNED SAMPLES. WE WILL DEVELOP NOVEL EXTRACTION METHODS AND USE A COMBINATION OF STATE-OF-THE-ART HIGH RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY AND ULTRAHIGH PERFORMANCE NANOLIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY-HIGH RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY (CALLAHAN ET AL. 2011 AND 2014) FOR TARGETED AND UNTARGETED ANALYSES OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS. WE WILL DESIGN THESE ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES TOWARDS THE ANALYSES OF ORGANICS IN SAMPLES THAT ARE MICRON-SIZED AND WEIGH IN THE NANOGRAM RANGE. THESE ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES WILL BE PARTICULARLY BENEFICIAL FOR RETURNED SAMPLES WITH FINITE AMOUNTS AND EXTREMELY LIMITED SAMPLE SIZE BECAUSE THESE SAMPLES ARE HIGHLY CHALLENGING TO ANALYZE THE ORGANICS ARE USUALLY IN TRACE AMOUNTS AND FEW TECHNIQUES CAN PROVIDE ANALYSES OF ORGANICS AT THE FULL MOLECULAR LEVEL. IN ADDITION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTICAL METHODS AND TECHNIQUES WE WILL ANALYZE COMETARY PARTICLES AND GRAIN TRACKS IN AEROGELS FROM THE STARDUST MISSION AS ANOTHER PRIMARY GOAL. WE WILL ALSO INCORPORATE A NOVEL ANALYTICAL STRATEGY CALLED METEOROMICS WHICH INCLUDES HIGH-LEVEL DATA ANALYSES TO COMPARE ORGANICS IN COMETARY SAMPLES TO OTHER EXTRATERRESTRIAL MATERIALS SUCH AS CARBONACEOUS METEORITES. OUR STATE-OF-THE-ART ANALYSES OF COMETARY PARTICLES AND GRAIN TRACKS IN AEROGELS WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF [1] COMPLEX ORGANICS IN COMETS [2] THE DISTRIBUTION OF COMPLEX ORGANICS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM (PARTICULARLY THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM) AND [3] THEIR POTENTIAL ROLE IN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH WHICH WOULD MAXIMIZE THE SCIENCE DERIVED FROM THE STARDUST MISSION. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE LARS PROGRAM BECAUSE DEVELOPING NEXT GENERATION ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR A COMPREHENSIVE MOLECULAR-LEVEL ANALYSIS OF STARDUST RETURNED SAMPLES IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE TWO ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED BY THE LARS PROGRAM NAMELY [1] DEVELOPMENT OF LABORATORY ADVANCED TECHNIQUES REQUIRED FOR THE ANALYSIS OF RETURNED SAMPLES AND [2] DIRECT ANALYSIS OF SAMPLES ALREADY RETURNED TO EARTH. THE ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES THAT WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AND UTILIZE ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE STARDUST RETURNED SAMPLES ONLY. THEY WOULD BE HIGHLY VALUABLE TOWARDS THE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIC COMPOSITION IN HIGHLY SAMPLELIMITED RETURNED SAMPLES SUCH AS HAYABUSA1 AND HAYABUSA2 AND FUTURE RETURNED SAMPLES FROM OSIRIS-REX; THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE CONSIDERING THEIR ASTEROIDAL ORIGIN AND OUR ABILITY TO COMPARE THESE SAMPLES WITH OUR EXISTING DATABASE OF METEORITIC ORGANICS.