The latest improvements of techniques to find alien life lead enthusiasts to NASA's newly developed tool. The technology for detecting signs of extraterrestrial life created by the U.S. space agency is said to be 10, 000 times more sensitive than the traditional tools used beforehand. This tool is expected to open better paths for exploring extraterrestrial lives.
A study published by a NASA researcher titled "Enhanced Resolution of Chiral Amino Acids with Capillary Electrophoresis for Biosignature Detection in Extraterrestrial Samples" reveals the agency's latest tool in searching life outside Earth. A complete detail was revealed about NASA's developed new technique. According to the paper, the method uses a 'laser-provoked fluorescence recognition' which reportedly allows researchers to see a laser shone through blended organic molecules. These molecules will then be arranged to identify if a living organism exists in the area of focus.
According to Forbes, co-author Peter Willis and his colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California have used the liquid-based method capillary electrophoresis to isolate the mixture of organic molecules into its components. This method is specially programmed to identify the amino acids, which is reportedly unique to human life. As per the report, this technology can be 10,000 times more responsive compared to the contemporary methods of engaging spaceships to study planets and find signs of alien life such as the Mars Curiosity rover.
From the research report, a key advantage of NASA's new technique of finding alien life is its simple and effortless process. It is reportedly uncomplicated and relatively easier to computerize for fluid testers which are expected on oceanic world missions. According to Phys.org, the technique uses a fluid sample combined with a liquid reagent which will be amalgamated through chemical analysis under certain conditions. Following this, a laser then will be shown diagonally on the mixture. Testing such process, scientists observed that the molecules move at different speeds, basically helping them to determine which ones are for potential "life".
According to Willis, the examination is tuned to determine left-handed amino acids which can be found in living organisms on Earth. Scientists expect that life outside of Earth would also need to choose among the two structures of amino acid (left-handed and right-handed) to support that existence. For this reason, NASA scientists believe that searching for amino acids through the new technique can be a powerful sign of alien life.
