NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Chemistry

Eric T. Parker¹, James H. Cleaves^2,3, Aaron S. Burton⁴, Daniel P. Glavin⁵, Jason P. Dworkin⁵, Manshui Zhou¹, Jeffrey L. Bada⁶, Facundo M. Fernández¹

¹School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, ²Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, ³Institute for Advanced Study, ⁴Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate, NASA Johnson Space Center, ⁵Goddard Center for Astrobiology, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, ⁶Geosciences Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego

The Miller-Urey experiment was a pioneering study regarding the abiotic synthesis of organic compounds with possible relevance to the origins of life. Simple gases were introduced into a glass apparatus and subjected to an electric discharge, simulating the effects of lightning in the primordial Earth’s atmosphere-ocean system. The experiment was conducted for one week, after which, the samples collected from it were analyzed for the chemical building blocks of life.

Engineering

Fabrication of Uniform Nanoscale Cavities via Silicon Direct Wafer Bonding

Stephen R. D. Thomson¹, Justin K. Perron^2,3, Mark O. Kimball⁴, Sarabjit Mehta⁵, Francis M. Gasparini¹

¹Department of Physics, The State University of New York at Buffalo, ²Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, ³The National Institute of Standards and Technology, ⁴Cryogenics and Fluids Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, ⁵HRL Laboratories

A method for permanently bonding two silicon wafers so as to realize a uniform enclosure is described. This includes wafer preparation, cleaning, RT bonding, and annealing processes. The resulting bonded wafers (cells) have uniformity of enclosure ~1%^1,2. The resulting geometry allows for measurements of confined liquids and gasses.

Education

Fabrication and Characterization of Superconducting Resonators

Giuseppe Cataldo¹, Emily M. Barrentine², Ari D. Brown², Samuel H. Moseley¹, Kongpop U-Yen², Edward J. Wollack¹

¹Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, ²Instrument Systems and Technology Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Superconducting microwave resonators are of interest for detection of light, quantum computing applications and materials characterization. This work presents a detailed procedure for fabrication and characterization of superconducting microwave resonator scattering parameters.