A team of University of Hawai'i at Mnoa researchers have developed a scientific instrument that may change the game in the search for alien life.
A lot of biological materials have strong organic signals that can be detected by specialized cameras. According to a study published in Nature Scientific Reports, the bio-residue in fish fossils from the 34-54 million year-old Green River formation can be accurately detected with the help of the Biofinder.
Anupam Misra is a researcher at the UH Mnoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. There is no other equipment that can detect bio-residue during the day. The Bio finder is able to work from a distance of several meters, take video and can quickly scans a large area.
The NASA PICASSO program supported the latest color version of the compact Bio finder, which was developed by Misra.
It's an enormous challenge to find evidence of biological remnants in a large planetary landscape. The team tested the detection abilities of the Biofinder on the ancient Green River fish fossils and found them to be valid.
Misra said there are some unknowns about how quickly bio-residues are replaced by minerals. Our findings confirm once more that biological residues can live for millions of years, and that using biofluorescence is effective in detecting trace residues.
One of the major goals of planetary exploration missions is the search for life on planetary bodies.
"If the Biofinder were mounted on a rover on Mars or another planet, we would be able to quickly detect evidence of past life, even if the organisms was small, not easy to see with our eyes, and dead for millions of years," said Misra. Future NASA missions will be important in detecting organics and the existence of life on other planets.
The Biofinder's capabilities would be critical for NASA's planetary protection program for the accurate and no-invasive detection of contaminants such as microbes or extraterrestrial biohazards to or from planet Earth.
Misra and colleagues are trying to get the chance to send the bio finder on a NASA mission.
Misra said that the detection of such markers would be "groundbreaking evidence for life outside of planet Earth".
More information: Anupam K. Misra et al, Biofinder detects biological remains in Green River fish fossils from Eocene epoch at video speed, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14410-8 Journal information: Scientific Reports
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