Sensor Web for In Situ Exploration of Gaseous Biosignatures

A Sensor Web is a system of intra-communicating spatially distributed sensor pods that can be deployed to monitor and explore new environments. By its very nature, the Sensor Web provides spatio-temporal data in a form consistent with that needed for environment modeling and represents a new paradigm for in situ monitoring and exploration. For example, a wireless web of scattered sensor pods on the Martian surface is an ideal way to pursue gaseous biosignature searches. Sensor Web climate and agricultural monitoring on Earth (particularly when coupled with remote measurements) characterize significant commercial opportunities for this technology. Recent laboratory demonstrations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have shown the potential of current Sensor Web technology. These demonstrations are leading to a JPL effort to field a Sensor Web in Baja California to examine gaseous biosignatures from the microbial mats there.