ASTID

Mid-IR Spectroscopy for Small Satellites (MIRSSS)

PI: David Summers

We propose a concept study for a small mid-Infrared telescope/spectrometer to detect and characterize the delivery and survival of extraterrestrial organic matter into the atmosphere. It would be designed to fit into a small satellite. This instrument would use astronomical sources along a viewing path that grazes the Earth’s atmosphere at the 80 to 100 km altitude region and detect the presence of delivered organic material by its mid-IR absorbance in molecular bands.

Current thought is that survival though ablation will occur because organics undergo too few collisions to be destroyed and the entrainment of meteoritic material will lower the oxidation level of the train. The detection of a C-H stretch emission in persistent meteor trains has been observed. The mission would provide an understanding of the delivery and survival of organics to the Earth that would not be otherwise possible. It can also help us understand how meteoritic organics could be altered to more prebiotically useful forms. This would provide data that isn¿t possible by the study of meteorite and IDPs which have not undergone the ablation that most of the flux encounters and have not been collected in statically representative numbers.

This is important for understanding of the habitability, potential for the origin of life, and prebiotic chemistry of not only the early Earth but also of other worlds. The detection and characterization of this delivery, in addition to being a source of prebiotic organics, can tell us much about the nature of these objects and about the formation of the solar system.

The ASTID call specifically suggested the determination of whether exogenous matter was a significant source of organic matter as a suitable goal and specifically includes instruments for small satellites as within the scope of the program.