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Collecting amino acids in the Enceladus plume

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2018

Melissa Guzman ,
Ralph Lorenz ,
Dana Hurley ,
William Farrell ,
John Spencer ,
Candice Hansen ,
Terry Hurford ,
Jassmine Ibea ,
Patrick Carlson  and
Christopher P. McKay
Melissa Guzman*
Affiliation:
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Ralph Lorenz
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD 20723, USA
Dana Hurley
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD 20723, USA
William Farrell
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
John Spencer
Affiliation:
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA
Candice Hansen
Affiliation:
Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
Terry Hurford
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Jassmine Ibea
Affiliation:
Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, CA 95135, USA
Patrick Carlson
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Christopher P. McKay
Affiliation:
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Melissa Guzman, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

We numerically model the dynamics of the Enceladus plume ice grains and define our nominal plume model as having a particle size distribution n(R) ~ R−q with q = 4 and a total particulate mass rate of 16 kg s−1. This mass rate is based on average plume brightness observed by Cassini across a range of orbital positions. The model predicts sample volumes of ~1600 µg for a 1 m2 collector on a spacecraft making flybys at 20–60 km altitudes above the Enceladus surface. We develop two scenarios to predict the concentration of amino acids in the plume based on these assumed sample volumes. We specifically consider Glycine, Serine, α-Alanine, α-Aminoisobutyric acid and Isovaline. The first ‘abiotic’ model assumes that Enceladus has the composition of a comet and finds abundances between 2 × 10−6 to 0.003 µg for dissolved free amino acids and 2 × 10−5 to 0.3 µg for particulate amino acids. The second ‘biotic’ model assumes that the water of Enceladus's ocean has the same amino acid composition as the deep ocean water on Earth. We compute the expected captured mass of amino acids such as Glycine, Serine, and α-Alanine in the ‘biotic’ model to be between 1 × 10−5 to 2 × 10−5 µg for dissolved free amino acids and dissolved combined amino acids and about 0.0002 µg for particulate amino acids. Both models consider enhancements due to bubble bursting. Expected captured mass of amino acids is calculated for a 1 m2 collector on a spacecraft making flybys with a closest approach of 20 km during mean plume activity for the given nominal particle size distribution.

Keywords

Amino acidsbiomarkersbubblesEnceladusplume
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 47 - 59
Creative Commons
This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States.
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

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