Development of Compact Sensor System for Detection of Water Activity in Mars-like conditions

Habitability has been defined as the ability of an environment to support the activity of at least one known organism. Water is important, as it is essential for all known life processes. Humidity data alone are not reliable indicators of habitability, as, while they give information about the presence of water in a substrate, they cannot elucidate if an environment is chemically suitable for microbes to thrive. Water activity is a measure of chemically available water for microbes to survive in a substance, acting as a significant indicator of habitability.

Most instruments for water activity measurements for example in food industry, etc. are relative bulky and have response time typically from minutes to hours. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop an instrument that is optimized for space applications. Miniaturization constraints such as, smaller dimensions, lighter weight, lower power consumption, smaller sample volumes and faster response time are important challenges. We will report in the conference, the design and characterization of the instrument and demonstrate its performance in field sites, analogous to Martian conditions as part of the Mine Analog Research (MINAR)