Jan 09, 2012 - Claremont, CA -

Two Harvey Mudd College students helped develop an optical survey prototype that uses lasers to identify the presence of living organisms within rock and ice. The system, which provides an economical way to study samples without destroying them, may one day be used to identify life on other planets.

Physics major Alex Hall '12 and engineering major Steven Hang '13 worked with Greg Lyzenga, professor of physics, and Michael Storrie-Lombardi, M.D., executive director of the Kinohi Institute, to design and build the prototype during the summer of 2011.

Funded by generous grants from the Rose Hills and R.C. Baker Foundations, the project was part of Harvey Mudd College's Summer Research Program, which engages students in 10 weeks of full-time research. The students' work was also the subject of an invited paper presented during the SPIE "Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XIV" annual conference in San Diego.

Storrie-Lombardi, M.C., A.P. Hall, S. Hang, G.A. Lyzenga, C.M. Clark, B.I. Sattler, A.K. Bej, and R.B. Hoover, Spectral Profiling & Imaging (SPI): Extending L.I.F.E. technology for the remote exploration of life in ice Caves (R.E.L.I.C.) on Earth and Mars, in Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XIV, R.B. Hoover, et al., Editors. 2011, SPIE: Bellingham. 8152(17): 1-12