Digital Holographic Microscopy for the Icefin Underwater Vehicle: Initial Progress and Future Steps
Abstract
Effective searches for life on icy worlds such as Europa will require: instruments capable of detecting microbial organisms, robotic platforms for exploration, and systems designed for extreme environments. In order to advance these capabilities, we are developing a submersible digital holographic microscope (DHM) for in situ operation aboard the Icefin underwater vehicle. Scientists at JPL and Caltech have developed a compact and robust digital holographic microscope (DHM) as a tool to detect life based on microbial motility and morphology. Concurrently, the Planetary Habitability & Technology Lab at Georgia Tech has built the underwater robot "Icefin" for exploring ocean cavities beneath ice in Antarctica - a terrestrial analog for icy worlds. Here I present the progress in combining these capabilities to image ocean microbes in situ beneath the Antarctic ice. In fall 2018 a custom water sampling instrument was designed and successfully deployed on Icefin in situ in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. At the same time a benchtop DHM was used to capture images and video of microbes in water retrieved from the ocean. We are now in the progress of integrating the DHM into underwater housing and utilizing the water sampler to control water motion through an imaged flow cell.
- Publication:
-
The Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) 2019
- Pub Date:
- March 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019absc.conf42183M