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Amino acid detection in cometary matter?
Meierhenrich U.J., Muñoz Caro G.M., Thiemann W.H.-P., Goesmann F., Rosenbauer H.
Abstract The recent identification of amino acid structures in interstellar ice analogues [1, 2] strongly supports the assumption that amino acids are abundant in cometary matter too. Cometary matter is assumed to be built up of aggregates of interstellar dust particles. Amino acids are the molecular building blocks of proteins in living organisms. These results amplified the scientific interest in the ESA cometary mission Rosetta. The Rosetta Lander includes the Cosac experiment dedicated to the identification of chiral organic molecules in cometary matter in situ by multi column gas chromatography coupled with a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. However, the envisaged in situ amino acid analysis on the cometary surface requires special technical emphasis of the COSAC instrumentation. The context in which the amino acid identification in cometary matter is of interest will be outlined and the analytical solutions that make amino acids accessible to the COSAC instrument will be presented. A succesful identification of amino acid structures in cometary matter would help to understand the beginnings of the biomolecular evolution and the origin of the biomolecular asymmetry.
Geophysical Research Abstract 5 (2003), 5304.
Last updated January 2004