Fluorescence Imaging Site B Life in the Atacama 2005 Science & Technology Workshop January 6-7, 2005 Shmuel Weinstein Kim Warren-Rhodes Greg Fisher

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 1NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon Introduction This presentation is a review of the data products produced by the Fluorescence Imager and the fluorescent probes during the Science Ops of Site B, 2004 field season in the Atacama Desert Outline Overview of FI capabilities FI results on a locale by locale basis Summary

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 2NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon Overview of 2004 FI capabilities View 10 cm x 10 cm directly under belly of Zoe, 180  m resolution Illumination/Excitation 1 J/flash Xenon flashlamp Four fiber bundle illumination channels Two intensities of “white light,” UV (325 nm – 375 nm), blue (425 nm – 475 nm), green (530 nm – 560 nm), and red (643 nm – 688 nm) Detection R, G, B, chlorophyll (670 nm – 810 nm), DNA probe (485 nm – 535 nm), Protein probe (590 nm – 650 nm), two other emission channels (435 nm – 485 nm) and (800 nm – 850 nm)

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 3NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon The Dyes Used in the Field Wavelength, nanometers DNA dye, Syto BC, absorption curve (Blue) DNA dye, Syto BC, emission curve (Green) Filter pass bands Protein dye, Sypro Red, absorption curve (Orange) Protein dye, Sypro Red, emission curve (Red) Blue Excitation FilterGreen Excitation FilterDNA Emission FilterProtein Emission Filter Chlorophyll Emission Filter

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 4NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon The Operation Sequence P{RGB, chlorophyll (=blue excitation)}, [water spray], B{RGB, chlorophyll, DNA, Protein}, [fluorescent probes spray], D{DNA, Protein} Later added chlorophyll check (=green excitation) after every chlorophyll File Nomenclature Z040917_1531_013FIP54X62MS_rawS Date TimeFISequence StepFilter SetImage Process P, B, or D Image Quality 45X74M = Chlor 54X74M = ChlorChk 45X51M = DNA 54X62M = Protein ND1RGB = RGB comp N = no flash F = flash S = F-N subtracted rawS

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 5NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon Rating System Four-point rating system to be unambiguous: Biological morphology Chlorophyll positive DNA dye positive Protein dye positive

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 6NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 2, Locale 1 The Positive Effect of Water on the Sample

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 7NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 2, Locale 1 Before and After DNA Dye

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 8NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 2, Locale 1 Before and After Protein Dye

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 9NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 2, Locale 1 Rating: 3 out of 4 (morphology, chlorophyll, DNA)

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 10NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 2, Locale 2 Rating: 2 out of 4 (morphology, chlorophyll)

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 11NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 3, Locale 5 Rover movement (wind, motors?) created blurry dye images and did not allow proper dye analysis. Are these mini lichens or endolithic life, or did the water wash off dust of mineral fluorescence? Rating: 1 out of 4 (chlorophyll)

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 12NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 3, Locale 6 Chlorophyll positive in a number of small regions. Dim, but real increases in both dye channels (quantitative comparisons on the.tif images) Rating: 3 out of 4 (no definitive morphology)

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 13NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 5, Locale 19 Slight fluorescence in both before and after dye in DNA and Protein- but NO increase due to dye. Rating: 2 out of 4 (morphology, chlorophyll with chlorophyll check)… or is it greater?

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 14NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon What did we find? Sol 6, Locale 19 chlorophyll chlorophyll check DNA Protein A hole filling the field-of-view with a single rock at the bottom in the center. Sign of life? :-) In the small region of interest from the full field-of- view (above), note the chlorophyll signature in center; mineral fluorescence in lower right Rating: 1 out of 4

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop 15NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon Conclusion In the best estimation, the FI detected both chlorophyll and dyes, although there was not a conclusive, unambiguous detection of life in any one sample, using all four criteria established for the science ops. Better dye penetration of lichens would improve that. Wind and/or other vibrations and rover movement will likely prevent image subtraction as a way of on-board image processing.