Description: Our innovation, Focused LIBS for Elements in Water IDentification (FLEW.ID), is a compact, cost-effective, and sensitive instrument for monitoring the elemental composition of aqueous solutions in plant growth systems on-board the International Space Station (ISS). FLEW.ID utilizes a miniaturized, low-pulse energy laser for performing laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) measurements that, when coupled with a compact optical assembly and spectrometer system, enables reductions in instrument size, weight, and power (SWaP) conducive to accommodation on the ISS for direct integration with currently-operating and/or future proposed plant growth systems. The enhanced benefit of FLEW.ID is that it is application agnostic, and therefore can be used for analyzing other fluid systems on the ISS such as in the closed-loop Water Recovery System or on future habitats on planetary surfaces.

Benefits: FLEW.ID enables on-demand, in-situ, real-time elemental analysis of fluid samples in plant growth systems for qualitative and quantitative analysis of nutrient cycling. When integrated into a plant growth system on the ISS, FLEW.ID can provide online analysis without any sampling nor consumables. FLEW.ID is application agnostic and can be readily adapted to measuring other fluid systems, such as the closed-loop water recycling system on board the ISS, or solid samples, such as geological samples during planetary exploration.

FLEW.ID can perform in-situ analysis of heavy metals and ionic contaminants in public water systems for early pollution detection and continuous monitoring to ensure the maximum contaminate levels (MCLs) are not exceeded that may negatively impact public health.