Planets
Our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a dense cloud of interstellar gas and dust. Nowadays it includes eight planets and their natural satellites (such as our moon), dwarf planets and their satellites, as well as asteroids, comets and countless particles of smaller debris.
Arcetri Astrobiology Laboratory is involved in the study of Mars and Mercury. We support with laboratory studies the activity of space mission instruments providing protocols and analogue analysis for data interpretation.
Mars science
Laboratory activity
Mars missions related activities include the development of new protocols in laboratory to adsorb biomarkers onto mineral matrices, in order to study the physico-chemical interactions characterizing such molecule-mineral complexes, and prepare Mars soil analogues for payload tests.
Several techniques are employed for characterization of Mars soil analogues: Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) and Raman vibrational spectroscopies, UV-vis spectrophotometry, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS), Ion Chromatography (IC), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy(TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis.
ESA - ExoMars 2022 mission
Arcetri Astrobiology Laboratory activities on Mars primarily support the scientific investigations and technology development of the Mars Organics Molecule Analyser (MOMA) instrument on board ESA ExoMars 2020 space mission, devoted to detection of a wide range of organic molecules, operating in two modes, i.e. laser desorption ionization- and gas chromatography- mass spectrometry.
The mission is actually in assembly phase and it will be launch in 2020
NASA - Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity"
Laboratory team is also involved in the NASA Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) Curiosity rover. In particular our activities support the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on board the rover, which is a suite of three instruments, including a mass spectrometer, gas chromatograph, and tuneable laser spectrometer.
The rover landed on Mars in 2012 and it is currently operating.
NASA - Mars2020 "Perseverance"
Mars2020 Perseverance is the last rover deployed by NASA on the surface of the Red Planet in the beginning of 2021. The rover mission aimed to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
Our laboratory is involved in the preparation of analog samples of the red planet surface to improve our interpretation on data collected by rover's intruments.
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Mercury science
Laboratory activity
Mercury science is in the middle between past exploration missions and the future. Arcetri Astrobiology Laboratory thanks to a versatile facility can simulate the harsh environment of the smallest planet of our Solar System. The goal is to interpret the remote sensing infrared data already available to be prepared for the future exploration. The infrared facility is able to measure in-situ spectra in Mercury simulated condition.
ESA Bepicolombo mission
Our laboratory team members are planning a series of measurements to support the Bepicolombo mission and infrared remote sensing observations. The lab is collaborating with Science Team member of Bebicolombo mission for preparatory analysis of Mercury surface.
The spacecraft is currently traveling to Mercury.