Air samples are to be collected at various altitude sin the stratosphere using balloons flown form Hyderabad, India. The samples will be passed through sterile micropore filters, after which the filters will be analyzed using voltage sensitive lipophilic dyes to detect the presence of either active or non-active cells. Organisms detected in this manner will be studied using static mass spectroscopy to establish isotropic ratios ¹³C/¹²C and D/H, which would distinguish between terrestrial and extraterrestrial cells.

Date Published: 6 July 1998
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 3441, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology, (6 July 1998); doi: 10.1117/12.319844

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3441:
Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology
Richard B. Hoover, Editor(s)