Formation of prebiotic organics in space: Its simulation on ground and conceptual design of space experiment in earth orbit Original Research Article

The formation of prebiotic organics in outer space has been simulated on ground. In order to verify abiotic formation of such compounds in earth orbit, the concept of cosmobiology experiment was developed. Simulated interstellar ice over dust grains is exposed to vacuum ultraviolet light and other space environment to induce organic formation. A system configuration and its engineering specification were determined to meet the scientific requirements, which were defined by the ground based study. The system consists of cryogenics to keep volatile species solidified, optics to filter and amplify the ultraviolet portion of the solar light for the accelerated irradiation of sample, and analysis subsystem to evaluate formation of organics in-situ together with post flight analysis of involatile products in trace.