Dottorato in TECNOLOGIE DELL'INFORMAZIONE E DELLE COMUNICAZIONI (ICT)

Titolo della tesi: Lab-On-Chip Technology for Biosignature Detection on Nanosatellites. Astrobio CubeSat: a Case Study

Designing hardware for astrobiological applications is a relatively new interdisciplinary field. Due to the increased interest in CubeSats from both the academic and industrial sector and the increase in accessibility to space, CubeSats represent the most promising applications for astrobiological payloads in interplanetary missions, although as of today only a few CubeSat missions had an astrobiological science objective, and no mission had the capability to mount a miniaturized technology that can be used in space to detect biomarkers that could identify traces of extinct or extant life beyond Earth. This thesis aims to demonstrate the feasibility and technology validation of miniaturized spaceborne in situ laboratory hardware for astrobiological applications and biomarker detection on CubeSat missions by presenting the case study of Astrobio CubeSat (ABCS), a 3U CubeSat designed to host a micro laboratory based on lab-on-chip (LoC) technology able to provide a platform for the automatic execution of bioanalytical experiments in space. This thesis covers the contribution and research of the Author regarding Project Management, Design, System Engineering, Mission analysis, Simulation and Testing for ABCS project. This thesis also discusses the methodology and the analytical approach that were used in designing ABCS mission to adopt them for general CubeSat Mission for astrobiological applications.