Abstract:
The Life Marker Chip instrument, which has been selected to fly as part of the 2018
ExoMars rover mission payload, aims to detect up to 25 organic molecules in martian
rocks and regolith, as markers of extant life, extinct life, meteoritic in-fall and spacecraft
contamination. Martian samples will be extracted with a solvent and the resulting liquid
extracts will be analysed using multiplexed microarray-format immunoassays. The LMC
is under development by an international consortium led by the University of Leicester
and the work described within this thesis was carried out at Cranfield University as part
of the consortium’s broader program of work preparing the LMC instrument for flight in
2018. Within this thesis four specific areas of LMC instrument development are
addressed: the investigation of immunoassay compatible liquid extraction solvents, the
study of likely interactions of martian sample matrix with immunoassays, the
development of antibodies for the detection of markers of extinct life and demonstration
of solvent extraction and immunoassay detection in a flight representative format. Cont/d.
