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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are found on various planetary surfaces in the solar system. They are proposed to play a role in the emergence of life, as molecules that are important for biological processes could be derived from them. In this work, four PAHs (pyrene, perylene, anthracene, and coronene) were measured using the ORganics Information Gathering INstrument system (ORIGIN), a lightweight laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometer designed for space exploration missions. In this contribution, we demonstrate the current measurement capabilities of ORIGIN in detecting PAHs at different concentrations and applied laser pulse energies. Furthermore, we show that chemical processing of the PAHs during measurement is limited and that the parent mass can be detected in the majority of cases. The instrument achieves a 3�� detection limit in the order of femtomol mm���2 for all four PAHs, with the possibility of further increasing this sensitivity. This work illustrates the potential of ORIGIN as an instrument for the detection of molecules important for the emergence or presence of life, especially when viewed in combination with previous results by the instrument, such as the identification of amino acids. ORIGIN could be used on a lander or rover platform for future in situ missions to targets in the solar system, such as the icy moons of Jupiter or Saturn.

Vorwort [zum Beitrag]: Die Abteilung Veterinär-Anatomie ist mit sechs Mikroskopen in das Microscopy Imaging Center MIC der Universität Bern einge-bunden (www.mic.unibe.ch). Damit stehen unsere Geräte auch externen Forschenden zur Verfügung, wodurch sich oft ebenso unerwartete wie spannende Einblicke in völlig andere Disziplinen und Projekte ergeben. So kam auch der Kontakt zu Rustam Lukmanov zustande, der bei uns Gesteinsproben mit Blick auf weitere Untersuchungen mikroskopierte und uns so an seiner Forschung über extraterrestrische Lebensspuren teilhaben liess. Solche Horizonterweiterungen sind echt bereichernde Lichtblicke, die sich nur dank unserer Dienstleistungsfunktion ergeben, und die ich nicht missen möchte. Lesen Sie den Beitrag aus der Abteilung Weltraumforschung und Planetologie über die Entwicklung von Geräten zum Aufspüren extraterrestrischer Lebensspuren. Neben dem englischen Originalbeitrag von Lukmanov et al. finden Sie eine Übertragung des Textes ins Deutsche. Michael H. Stoffel, Abteilung Veterinär-Anatomie

Scientific objectives of current and future space missions are focused on the investigation of the origin and evolution of the solar system with the particular emphasis on habitability and signatures of past and present life. For in situ measurements of the chemical composition of solid samples on planetary surfaces, the neutral atmospheric gas and the thermal plasma of planetary atmospheres, the application of mass spectrometers making use of time-of-flight mass analysers is a technique widely used. However, such investigations imply measurements with good statistics and, thus, a large amount of data to be analysed. Therefore, faster and especially robust automated data analysis with enhanced accuracy is required. In this contribution, an automatic data analysis software, which allows fast and precise quantitative data analysis of time-of-flight mass spectrometric data, is presented and discussed in detail. A crucial part of this software is a robust and fast peak finding algorithm with a consecutive numerical integrationmethod allowing precise data analysis.We tested our analysis softwarewith data fromdifferent time-of-flight mass spectrometers and different measurement campaigns thereof. The quantitative analysis of isotopes, using automatic data analysis, yields results with an accuracy of isotope ratios up to 100 ppm for a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 10⁴. We show that the accuracy of isotope ratios is in fact proportional to SNR⁻¹. Furthermore, we observe that the accuracy of isotope ratios is inversely proportional to the mass resolution. Additionally, we show that the accuracy of isotope ratios is depending on the sample width Ts by Ts 0.5.