• Carbon Dating of Cave Art - Mass Spectrometry dates prehistoric cave paintings in southern France...


• On the Nose - MS shows mice prefer to mate with partners that express different MHC genes...


• Special Delivery - A mass spectrometer is delivered to the international space station...


• Molecular Hitchhiking on a Comet - Mass spectrometry shows molecules can survive an impact with Earth...


• Mass Spectrometry Unearths Mexico's Maize - Accelerator MS provides evidence of early agriculture in Mexico...


• Mass of the Universe -Scientists may finally have a reliable estimate of the mass of the universe...


• Airport Security - Ion mobility mass spectrometry to detect narcotics at airports...


• MS at the Olympics - Mass spectrometry keeps the athletes honest...


• more past features...

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• GlycoSuiteDB - search database with oligosaccharide mass
• Javascript Protein Digest - peptide digest masses
• Javascipt Fragment Ion Generator for peptides
• Mascot Search - peptide mass and sequence tools
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• Protein Prospector - mass spectra interpretation tools
• PROWL - identification of proteins from MS data

 

Special Delivery

The space shuttle Atlantis recently delivered a quadrupole mass spectrometer to the international space station Alpha. Officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said it was specifically designed for use outside the space station. It can detect ammonia, rocket propellant, oxygen, nitrogen and water leaks. "The instrument will promote space flight safety for the international space station," JPL's Dr. Ara Chutjian the principal investigator on the project.

The quadrupole mass spectrometer array is about 5 cm long. It's part of a shoebox-sized system with software and visual readout. The entire unit weighs about 2.3 kilograms and can be carried on an astronaut's chest pack. A small screen shows a graph indicating any detected gases that could pose a safety risk to the astronauts, such as ammonia leaks from fittings on the new U.S. built science laboratory Destiny. Astronaut Thomas Jones had to undergo decontamination procedures after being sprayed by ammonia while hooking up hoses between the science lab and Alpha on February 10th.

According to Chutjian "JPL has developed the smallest mass spectrometer ever produced for either manned or robotic spaceflight". The system was developed in collaboration with NASA and subcontractor Oceaneering Space Systems.

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