ASTID

Exposure of Organics On a Small Satellite (EOOSS)

PI: Orlando Santos

This project will expose organic compounds to natural forces aboard a satellite at Earth orbit and determine if there is enantiomer preference in the region commonly occupied by near-Earth satellites. Such effects could have important implication for the origin of the homochirality observed in life as we now know it. As of now, the principal natural phenomena thought to be capable of enantiomer selection in the early solar system are 1) selective destruction of enantiomers by circularly polarized light (CPL) and 2) a combination of a magnetic field and parallel incident light acting on a pair of enantiomers. Theoretical and experimental evidence have shown that both scenarios can result in a preference of one enantiomer over another: the laboratory part of this project will concentrate on the latter scenario (magnetic field + parallel incident) although in Earth orbit compounds may be subjected to a range of unknown effects. Although the laboratory enantiomer enhancements observed to date in the above scenarios are small (on the order of ~ 10-4 for magnetic field/parallel light effects) such results, on Earth or in interstellar space, in the early solar system could have lead to subsequent chemical enhancements such as life’s current homochirality. To produce such a combination of causative factors (co-parallel magnetic field and incident radiation) on the satellite it is thought that the most ideal satellite orbit should be at the approximate latitude of 25O (south or north). Here the magnetic inclination (angle of incident magnetic lines impinging on Earth’s surface at that location) is the most (but not perfectly) parallel to the sun’s radiation. Absorption spectra from the chosen organic compounds will be used to guide laboratory experiments meant to be preambles to actual satellite measurements. The method of detection on the satellite will be polarimetry.
Although our current knowledge leads to the present rationale and experimental setup, there may be unknown natural forces (e.g., various forms of radiation) at Earth-orbit that might also lead to chiral effects on the organic compounds.