McGill University|Université McGill

Purpose

Astrobiology and the search for life in our solar system is a major focus of planetary exploration. Life detection instruments available are currently focused on identification of habitable environments or on detection of presence of life; these instruments remain relatively high mass, large in size, and have high energy requirements. The project aims to further develop two detection platforms for space exploration and optimize these components in an end-to-end space-like mission using analogue environments in the Canadian high Arctic. The proposed instrumentation and platform could be robotized and integrated into future planetary exploration space missions attached to surface rover platforms for instance. Due to their portable nature, these systems have applications in industry for field detection and identification of microorganisms in remote extreme environments, as well as health care settings.