Spectroscopic and spectrometric differentiation between abiotic and biogenic material on icy worlds

Abstract

The ability to differentiate abiotic organic material from material of a biological origin is a critical task for astrobiology. Mass spectrometry and spectroscopy provide key tools for advancing this task and are two techniques that provide useful and highly complementary compositional information independent of a specific biochemical pathway. Here we address some of the utility and limitations of applying these techniques to both orbital and in situ exploration of icy moons of the outer solar system.