Detection of Amino Acids and Nucleotide bases

[CJSGrailKnigh]

1. I need to detect amino acids and nucleotide bases that MAY be present in small quantities on Titan in the Hydrocarbon seas

Homework Equations

Not required this is for a mission analysis class

The Attempt at a Solution

So I'm working on a project for my fourth year class in Space Mission Design and Analysis. My project is an astrobiology mission to Titan, Saturn's sixth moon, which is only slightly smaller than Mars with a atmosphere of Nitrogen of comparable density and pressure to Earth. Part of my project is a rover that will be sampling the hydrocarbon seas on the surface.

My question is in regards to the detection of amino acids and nucleotide bases in the samples. Currently my method of detection is a ninhydrin test for the detection alpha amino acids, although I would prefer to not need liquid reagents and heavy test equipment as I have a limit of about 200kg for the entire rover and 3 other experiments, and a for the detection of the nucleotide bases I believe testing the absorbance of UV light will allow for a first order detection of nucleotide bases.

If anyone has other ideas on methodology I would greatly appreciate the input.

I also posted this in the chemistry thread but I guess it should go here

 

[Nino MMP]

instead.As far as additional ideas for detecting amino acids and nucleotide bases in the samples, one possible option could be to use a mass spectrometer to analyze the compounds in the sample. This would provide a very precise analysis of the compounds present, allowing you to identify specific amino acids and nucleotide bases. Additionally, a gas chromatograph could also be used to detect the presence of these compounds. The use of a chromatograph would allow for a separation of the compounds present in the sample and thus allow for a more precise identification of which compounds are present.