Scientific research assignment #2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Scientific research assignment #2 - Essay Example ts has planet-centric view in that is necessary to assume that the building blocks of life on Mars are analogous to that of Earth and so will be carbon-based. It was apparent in the 70s that Martian surface conditions are strongly oxidized and that this complicates efforts to detect biological life. The Urey was developed by NASA-funded researchers to work in these highly oxidized conditions. This instrument has the ability to differentiate between left-handed and right-handed amino acids with its The Mars Organic and Occident Detector (MOD) (Skelley et al., 2006). All life on Earth is comprised of chains of amino acids, although these may be to non-biological means as well. Earth life overwhelmingly tends to be comprised of left-handed amino-acids. The Urey is able to detect both types of amino acids through an oxidant instrument that has microsensors coated with various chemicals painted on like a film. Urey will be able to detect key molecules associated with life at a sensitivity roughly a million times greater than previous instrumentation, that because it is the one with the highest sensitivity for organic chemicals. In a contrasting study, Steel and colleagues (2004) are part of the interdisciplinary, international Arctic Mars Analogue Svalbard Expedition (AMASE) team formed to develop a sampling and analysis instrument that can make real-time decisions on the surface of the planet as to weather searches for life should continue in those areas. The instrument is being created to form a two-phase investigative approach; first the surface is analyzed to determine an ideal target site; following samples and analyses are used to study the actual samples collected. Candy et al. (2003) proposed that developments of instruments that extend knowledge about extraterrestrial life are able to be made using morphological biosignatures. These signatures consist of conclusive microbial fossils as well as microbial influenced sedimentary structures. A microbial fossil