Metaproteomic of ARADs (Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies) field campaign samples as part of the NASA ASTEP project carried out in September 2019.

Conditions of low organic matter content per gram of soil in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, extreme temperatures and high UV radiation, makes it one of the best terrestrial analogue of Mars and one of the best scenarios for testing instrumentation devoted to in situ planetary exploration. We have remotely and automatically operated the SOLID-LDChip, an antibody microarray-based sensor instrument, as part of a rover payload during the 2019 NASA’s ASTEP ARADS Mars drilling simulating campaign. SOLID was loaded with a robotic arm with samples collected down to 80 cm depth and, after sample analysis with LDChip, sent results to a remote science team, to be validated by “omics” techniques.