LIBS Implications in Planetary Exploration: the Search for Organic Biosignatures

Abstract

In the task of advancing in the ability to evaluate the potential presence of life on other planets, in this work we describe several studies that focus on establishing different strategies for organic biosignature identification. Terrestrial analogues are explored because of their potential as reference models to study and reproduce processes occurring in other planetary environments. Therefore, different materials associated with ancient biogenic processes have been selected for analysis by LIBS due to their potential to host and preserve organic matter, thereby serving as a proxy for the detection of past biosignatures. Oil shale rocks with kerogen content [1], moonmilk-type endokarstic speleothems with amorphous carbon content [2], and oncoid-type organosedimentary deposits were selected as analogue samples on Earth for the study [3]. Characterization of molecular emissions by LIBS and other auxiliary analytical techniques allowed clues to be obtained about biological activity. The results highlight the relevance of elemental techniques such as LIBS in the characterization of singular geological samples for astrobiology research.