Homochirality as the signature of life: the SETH Cigar     

MacDermott AJ  Barron LD  Brack A  Buhse T  Drake AF  Emery R  Gottarelli G  Greenberg JM  Haberle R  Hegstrom RA  Hobbs K  Kondepudi DK  McKay C  Moorbath S  Raulin F  Sandford M  Schwartzman DW  Thiemann WH  Tranter GE  Zarnecki JC 《Planetary and Space Science》1996,44(11):1441-1446

A characteristic hallmark of life is its homochirality: all biomolecules are usually of one hand, e.g. on Earth life uses only L-amino acids for protein synthesis and not their D mirror images. It is therefore suggested that a search for extra-terrestrial life can be approached as a Search for Extra-Terrestrial Homochirality (SETH). A novel miniaturized space polarimeter, called the SETH Cigar, is described which could he used to detect optical rotation as the homochiral signature of life on other planets. Moving parts are avoided by replacing the normal rotating polarizer by multiple fixed polarizers at different angles as in the eye of the bee. It is believed that homochirality will be found in the subsurface layers on Mars as a relic of extinct life.  相似文献