The instrument is dubbed AstroBioNibbler, or Nibbler for short. Its developers envision it as an end-to-end device (from drilling to extraction to final chemical analysis) that could ride shotgun on some forthcoming rover mission. "Our intention is to bring traditional analytical chemistry tools to the search for life on Mars," says Frank Grunthaner an emeritus scientist from JPL who leads the AstroBioNibbler project. Unlike current and past missions that bake samples in hot ovens to release gases, the Nibbler takes the "espresso approach," as Grunthaner likes to describe it. This involves dissolving out target molecules using super-heated water. Liquid-based methods are far more sensitive...
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