Further Extraction Protocols for the Life Marker Chip (Q1 2009)

社会上广泛而多样的部分涉及这样一个问题：我们，也就是地球上的生命，是独一无二的吗，或者如果条件合适，生命是否出现在整个宇宙中？在我们的太阳系内，我们有机会通过访问火星等地点来解决这个问题，在我们目前的理解中，这些地点提供了有利于生命的可能环境。在火星上发现独立于地球上生命的生命证据，将强烈表明生命应该在整个宇宙中司空见惯。这样的发现将永远改变人类对我们在宇宙中的位置的看法。利用太空任务在火星表面放置科学仪器来寻找生命证据，包括保存下来的古代生命证据和可能的现代生命证据，为我们提供了一种解决这个问题的方法。欧洲航天局的探索火星计划在下个十年中期之前将一辆火星车送上火星表面，主要目标是了解火星上存在生命的可能性，并寻找这种可能性的证据。作为拟议的外部火星探测车内仪器套件的一部分，有一些仪器专注于通过搜索可能存在于火星环境中的痕量水平的某些有机分子来探测生命证据。这种分子的性质是，如果存在于火星环境中，它们的存在只能通过产生它们的生命的存在来解释：这种分子被称为生物标记物。因此，探测到这样的分子将是生命存在的一个非常强烈的指示。该仪器套件中可能的仪器之一是一种在空间探索背景下的新型仪器，称为生命标记芯片(LMC)。LMC利用了在其他非空间应用中，特别是在医疗保健部门中开发的一些技术。在医疗保健领域，微量有机分子的检测在疾病诊断中是司空见惯的，而且通常依赖于生物分析的使用，例如那些利用蛋白质分子(如抗体)的检测。这种方法的著名例子是怀孕测试工具包。这种方法适合在火星表面使用，如果可以结合多种抗体，将能够在紧凑和低质量的仪器中检测到各种有机分子生物标记物。一个由英国领导的国际团队一直在探索这样的LMC技术，并在欧洲航天局的另一项审查过程中被选中，为外火星任务开发LMC仪器。因此，该项目的总体目标是最终建造一台LMC仪器，交付给欧空局，并在外火星飞行任务中飞行。工作方案将包括(1)设计和开发仪器硬件，(2)生产检测生物标志所需的抗体，(3)在开发检测生物标志的抗体分析中使用抗体，(4)将这些分析整合到LMC硬件中，(5)设计和生产一个样品处理模块，从漫游车运送到LMC的火星岩石和土壤样本中提取生物标志，(Vi)在实验室试验中验证LMC仪器和(Vii)证明LMC仪器可以以清洁和无菌的形式生产，不会将地球生命带到火星上，不会污染火星环境，也不会发出火星生命的虚假信号。该仪器的质量应小于2公斤。LMC仪器的输出以及火星车内其他仪器的输出将解决具体的科学目标，例如是否有(I)保存下来的古代生命的证据，(Ii)与当前火星生命有关的短暂生物标志物的证据，以及(Iii)其他不是由生命产生的有机分子的存在，但这将使我们了解火星环境的历史和当前性质的其他方面。

Broad and diverse sections of society engage with the question 'are we, that is Life on Earth, unique or if given appropriate conditions, does Life appear throughout the Universe?' Within our Solar System, we have the opportunity to address this question by visiting locations such as Mars that within our current understanding offer possible environments conducive to Life. Finding of evidence of Life on Mars that is independent of Life on Earth would give a strong indication that Life should be commonplace throughout the Universe. Such a finding would change forever humankind's view of our place in the cosmos. The use of space missions to place scientific instruments on the surface of Mars to search for evidence of Life, both preserved evidence of ancient Life and possible present Life gives us a way to address this question. The European Space Agency's ExoMars mission plans to place a rover on the Martian surface by the middle of the next decade with a primary goal of understanding the possibility of Life on Mars and searching for evidence of such. As part of the instrument suite within the proposed ExoMars rover are a number of instruments that are focused at detecting evidence of Life by searching for certain organic molecules possibly present at trace levels in the Martian environment. The nature of such molecules is that if present in the Martian environment, their presence could only be explained by the existence of Life to produce them: such molecules are called biomarkers. Therefore detection of such molecules would be a very strong indication of the presence of Life. One of the possible instruments within the instrument suite is a novel instrument in the context of space exploration and called the Life Marker Chip (LMC). The LMC exploits of a number of technologies that have been developed within other non-space applications and especially within the healthcare sector. Within healthcare, the detection of trace organic molecules is commonplace in the diagnosis of disease and is often reliant upon the use of biological assay such as those exploiting protein molecules such an antibodies. Well-known examples of such an approach are pregnancy testing kits. Such an approach, suitably developed for use on the surface of Mars, would enable a diverse range of organic molecule biomarkers to be detected in a compact and low mass instrument if multiple antibodies could be incorporated. A UK led international team has been exploring such an LMC technology and has been chosen in a separate review process by ESA to develop a LMC instrument for the ExoMars mission. Thus the overall objective of this project is to ultimately build a LMC instrument to be delivered to ESA and flown on the ExoMars mission. The programme of work will comprise (i) designing and developing the instrument hardware, (ii) production of antibodies required to detect biomarkers, (iii) using the antibodies in developing antibody assays that detect biomarkers, (iv) integrating the assays into the LMC hardware, (v) designing and producing a sample processing module that will extract the biomarkers from Martian rock and soil samples delivered by the rover to the LMC, (vi) validating the LMC instrument in laboratory trials and (vii) demonstrating the LMC instrument can be produced in a clean and sterile form that will not take Earth Life to Mars and contaminate the Martian environment and give false signal of Life on Mars. The instrument should have a mass of less than 2kg. Outputs of the LMC instrument together with the outputs from the other instrument within the rover will address specific scientific objectives such as is there (i) evidence of preserved ancient Life, (ii) evidence of short-lived biomarkers associated with current Martian Life and (iii) presence of other organic molecules that are not produced by Life but that will inform us about other aspects of the history and current nature of the Martian environment.