Evolution of interstellar dust and its relevance to life's origin: laboratory and space experiments.

Abstract

A scheme is presented for an analog investigation of long term irradiation of ices and organics following the cyclic evolution of interstellar dust. The irradiation is proposed to be performed at cryogenic temperatures on a space platform, and with an enhancement of the solar ultraviolet flux using a concave mirror, grating combination which eliminates the visual and infrared from the sample surface.