Novel Polymer Microfluidics Technology for In Situ Planetary Exploration

Los Gatos Research proposes to develop a new polymer based microfluidics technology for NASA planetary science applications. In particular, we will design, build and demonstrate a micro-capillary electrochromatography instrument based on a rigid monolithic porous polymer structure as the stationary phase to analyze complex organic molecules on Mars, Titan and elsewhere in the solar system. Such high performance, small mass and volume, and low power consumption microfluidic sample separation devices are amenable for implementation at wafer level such as miniaturized "lab-on-a-chip" devices. For the Phase I effort, we will design, construct, and testing the micro-chips. The Phase I research will address issues related to performance as well as production methods that can be used for the technology, as well as designing and determining the integrated micro-device and the Phase II prototype. In the Phase II effort, we will construct and test the final prototypes capable of separating all relevant organic molecules for in-situ planetary explorations, thus provide new capabilities for NASA sample separation instrumentation development.