Molecules like amino acids, nucleobases, and lipids, when found in concentrations that cannot be explained by abiotic processes, are strong indicators for the presence of life. Among biosignatures, biomolecules-a loose term for any molecule produced by an organism-are especially interesting to answer the question whether life currently exists someplace other than Earth. ![]() Analogues are a key part of the process to select what types of biosignatures one should look for and which space instruments are well suited to detect them ( Cavalazzi and Westall, 2019), ( Foucher et al., 2021). One way to achieve the capability for such investigations is by using analogue material, i.e., material that is thought to be similar to that found or expected on the targeted Solar System body. Since space exploration is an expensive, time-consuming, and risky undertaking, extensive testing of any instrument potentially used in space is essential to its success. These locations can be investigated for the presence of biosignatures, a collective term for chemical and morphological indicators of life with appropriate instruments ( Hand et al., 2017 Hays and Beaty, 2017) ( Hendrix et al., 2019). Such locations have been identified on different Solar System bodies, including Mars, Jupiter’s moon Europa, and Saturn’s moon Enceladus ( Cavalazzi and Westall, 2019). One of the most important parameters involved in finding extinct or extant life is the identification of locations that are currently habitable or have been habitable at any time in the past. The search for and detection of extraterrestrial life is therefore likely one of the most exciting challenges humanity has ever faced. The detection of life in places other than Earth would have many philosophical and scientific implications ( Sagan, 1980 Lingam and Loeb, 2021). The presented analysis method represents an alternative to the typically applied spectra-by-spectra analysis for the evaluation of mass spectrometric data and, therefore, is of high interest for future application in space exploration missions. Based on mass spectrometric correlation, amino acid signatures were separated from soil signatures, identifying chemically different molecular components in complex samples. The resulting dataset was analysed using a correlation network analysis method. We focus in this paper on the detection and identification of amino acid extracts from a natural permafrost sample, as well as in an analogue mixture of soils and amino acids. In this contribution, recent results obtained using our novel laser desorption mass spectrometer ORganics INformation Gathering Instrument (ORIGIN), an instrument designed for in situ space exploration, are presented. ![]() A variety of parameters must be considered, such as a suited landing site location, geological and environmental processes favourable to life, life detection strategies, and the application of appropriate and sensitive instrumentation. However, the detection of chemical signatures of life on planets or their moons is challenging. ![]() The detection of biomolecules on Solar System bodies can help us to understand how life emerged on Earth and how life may be distributed in our Solar System. 4Space Policy Institute, George Washington University, Washington DC, MD, United States.3Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.2NCCR, PlanetS, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.1Space and Planetary Science, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. ![]() Boeren 1,2, Pascale Ehrenfreund 3,4, Peter Wurz 1,2 and Andreas Riedo 1,2* de Koning 1, Peter Keresztes Schmidt 1, Salome Gruchola 1, Nikita J. Lukmanov 1, Valentine Grimaudo 1, Marek Tulej 1, Coenraad P.
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