Away Team Field Test Of WATSON Biosignature Tricorder In Greenland
During 2019 field tests near Greenland’s Summit Station, a high-elevation remote observing station, the WATSON (Wireline Analysis Tool for the Subsurface Observation of Northern ice sheets) instrument is put through its paces to seek out signs of life, or biosignatures, 360 feet (110 meters) down a borehole. In this photograph, the winch that holds the drill pokes out the top of the drill tent.
WATSON could one day be launched aboard a robotic mission to seek out biosignatures on the ocean moons of Enceladus, Europa, or even Titan.
The WATSON team hopes to test the instrument in a variety of cold locations on Earth to see how the distribution and variety of biosignatures change depending on where they are.
By testing WATSON in different Earth analogs — areas on Earth that can stand in for those on other worlds — scientists would be able to better understand the chemical fingerprints of any biosignatures detected on other worlds.
In this photograph, a WATSON team member secures the tether to the top of the tube-like instrument and drill before lowering it into the ice. The tether also acts as the power cable and data feed. Care must be taken to ensure a tight connection between the tether and instrument, else the instrument could be lost in the ice.
NASA ID: PIA24170 larger image
This fluorescence map of the inside wall of an ice borehole near Greenland’s Summit Station was produced at a depth of 307.7 feet (93.8 meters) into the ice sheet by the WATSON (Wireline Analysis Tool for the Subsurface Observation of Northern ice sheets) instrument.
Recorded during a 2019 field test of the WATSON instrument, the left panel shows the variety of biosignatures that were detected in the ice — different colors represent different organic molecules, some of which are likely microbes. The arrows highlight artifacts on the instrument’s optical window, not biosignatures in the ice.
In the right panel, the biosignature detections have been colorized to indicate the different features detected. Blotches that are the same color are likely made of the same chemicals. The numbers list the different and distinct features that WATSON detected at that depth in the ice.
NASA ID: PIA24140 Larger image
Astrobiology
