Identifying and classifying substances is an integral part of understanding the world around us. However in hazardous or non-terrestrial environments the task of identifying and classifying substances becomes extremely challenging. In hazardous environments additional safety measures must be taken to protect the researchers who are gathering samples. To ensure the researchers are not injured, things like safety equipment and protective gear need to be supplied. The scientific equipment used to extract samples and the samples themselves must also be protected. This requires protective carrying cases, and other specialized equipment to ensure the integrity of the extraction equipment and the extracted samples. All of this extra equipment increases both the cost and effort needed to extract samples from hazardous locations. For extraterrestrial scientific expeditions the cost of acquiring and returning samples to earth is an order of magnitude more expensive compared to acquiring samples on earth. This increased cost is a function of the energy requirements needed to escape a gravity well. In extraterrestrial sample acquisition because space travel is often a rough process, the costs associated with sample protection are also incurred. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy is a method of localized sample analysis, which can be used to significantly reduce costs and increase throughput of sample analysis in hazardous or extraterrestrial environments.
Team
Benjamin Logan - Photonic Science and Engineering
Faisal Abdallah Salim Al-Quaiti - Electrical Engineering
Liam Collins - Electrical Engineering
Stephen Styrk - Photonic Science and Engineering
Reviewers
Dr.Peter Delfyett
Dr.Saleem Sahawneh
Documents
Video
