Texas Tech University System
Lunar science and techSubcontractor to 2
Lunar obligations
$9.7Mas prime
Lunar awards
7as prime
Its subcontractors
3$5.9M reported
Primes it works for
2$305K in subawards
Who it subcontracts to
LUNAR INSTRUMENTATION FOR SUBSURFACE THERMAL EXPLORATION WITH RAPIDITY (LISTER)
LUNAR INSTRUMENTATION FOR SUBSURFACE THERMAL EXPLORATION WITH RAPIDITY (LISTER)
DR. MATTHEW SIEGLER OF UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MANOA WILL AID IN DATA INTERPRETATION, ARCHIVAL AND INITIAL ANALYSIS AND PUBLICATION OF RESULTS FROM THE LISTER HEAT FLOW PROBE, WHICH WILL BE LAUNCHING TO THE MOON IN THE UPCOMING WEEKS. HE WILL WORK WITH THE TEAM TO DEVELOP THERMAL MODELS TO UNDERSTAND THE DATA FROM THIS MISSION AND ITS TEAM TO DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF EXPECTED SURFACE TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS USING 3D RAY TRACING THERMAL MODELS DEVELOPED FOR THE DIVINER INSTRUMENT AND VIPER MISSION. HE WILL ATTEND REGULAR TELECONS, TRAVEL TO TEAM MEETINGS AND SUPPORT ACADEMIC PROMOTION OF THE INSTRUMENT SCIENCE AT CONFERENCES.
Who it works for
PI TO PROVIDE PROGRESS YEARLY REPORTS, ATTEND TEAM CONFERENCES, SCIENCE MEETINGS AND PRODUCTION OF SCIENTIFIC TALKS, POSTERS AND PAPERS AS REQUESTED.ALSO PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING EQUIPMENT: TEMPERATURE CALIBRATION BATH AND FLUID.
CO-PI NAGIHARA WILL ASSIST THE PI AND THE OTHER TEAM MEMBERS IN PERFORMING THERMAL PROPERTIES MEASUREMENTS ON THE MATERIAL THEY TEST THE RADIOMETER WITH. HE WILL CONTRIBUTE THE TEAM DISCUSSION ON THE INSTRUMENT DESIGN AND EXPERIMENTAL DATA ANALYSIS BASED ON HIS EXPERIENCE IN DESIGNING LUNAR HEAT FLOW PROBE AND ANALYZING THE APOLLO HEAT FLOW DATA.
Lunar awards as prime
| Award | Description | Period | Obligated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80MSFC20C0022 | THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP A LUNAR INSTRUMENTATION FOR SUBSURFACE THERMAL EXPLORATION WITH RAPIDITY. | 2019-11-21 → 2025-12-31 | $5.3M |
| 80MSFC26C0011 | DELIVER A ROBUST, FLIGHT-QUALIFIED INSTRUMENT THAT WILL MEASURE LUNAR SUBSURFACE HEAT FLOW, THEREBY PROVIDING CRITICAL DATA TO ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MOON'S INTERNAL THERMAL STATE AND ITS GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION. | 2026-09-01 → 2029-12-31 | $2.7M |
| 80NSSC17K0120 | SCIENTIFIC GOAL: THE LATEST DECADAL SURVEY MENTIONS EUROPA AS THE HIGHEST PRIORITY DESTINATION IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM AS POTENTIAL PLANETARY HABITAT . AMONG THE GALILEAN SATELLITES EUROPA S OCEAN IS EXPECTED TO BE FOUND AT THE SHALLOWEST DEPTH BENEATH THE ICE SHELL BECAUSE OF TIDAL HEATING AND THE RADIOGENIC HEATING FROM THE ROCKY INTERIOR BENEATH THE OCEAN. IT IS REASONABLE TO EXPECT SEAFLOOR VOLCANISM AND HYDROTHERMAL ACTIVITY THAT COULD PROVIDE NUTRIENTS AND ENERGY TO SUPPORT METABOLISM . MEASUREMENT OF THE HEAT TRANSPORT THROUGH THE ICE SHELL IS CRITICAL IN FURTHER UNDERSTANDING THE THERMAL EVOLUTION OF THE MOON S INTERIOR AND THE POSSIBLE ECOSYSTEMIC FRAMEWORK OF THE SUBSURFACE OCEAN. THE HEAT FLOW MEASUREMENT WILL ALSO CONSTRAIN THE THICKNESS OF THE ICE SHELL. NASA IS PLANNING A LANDER MISSION TO EUROPA. WE PROPOSE TO DESIGN A HEAT FLOW PROBE THAT CAN BE ROBOTICALLY DEPLOYED FROM A LANDER ON THE SURFACE OF EUROPA AND THE OTHER ICY MOONS SUCH AS ENCELADUS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MEASURING THE ENDOGENIC HEAT RELEASED FROM THE ICE SHELL. METHODOLOGY: THE UPPERMOST PORTION OF EUROPA S ICE SHELL TRANSPORTS HEAT BY CONDUCTION. CONDUCTIVE HEAT FLOW CAN BE OBTAINED AS THE PRODUCT OF TWO SEPARATE MEASUREMENTS OF THE THERMAL GRADIENT AND THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF THE DEPTH INTERVAL PENETRATED BY A PROBE. ON EARTH A ROTARY OR PERCUSSIVE DRILL IS USED TO EXCAVATE A HOLE AND THEN A HEAT FLOW PROBE IS INSERTED. DRILL PIPE SECTIONS ARE ADDED UNTIL THE HOLE REACHES THE TARGETED DEPTH. ON A ROBOTIC PLANETARY MISSION HOWEVER SUCH TECHNIQUE IS NOT POSSIBLE DUE TO THE LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE ON THE LANDER AND THE COMPLEXITY OF EXTENDING THE DRILL PIPE ONE SECTION AT A TIME. PREVIOUSLY FOR USE ON EARTH S MOON OUR GROUP DEVELOPED A COMPACT (SHOEBOX-SIZE 1-KG) HEAT FLOW PROBE DEPLOYMENT MECHANISM IN WHICH THERMAL SENSORS WERE EMBEDDED ON A FLEXIBLE STEM THAT SPOOLED OUT LIKE A STEEL TAPE MEASURE AS IT PENETRATED DEEPER INTO THE SUBSURFACE. WE WILL BASE THE EUROPA HEAT FLOW PROBE ON A SIMILAR DEPLOYMENT MECHANISM. THE LEADING END OF THE STEM REQUIRES A MECHANISM FOR EXCAVATING THE ICE. WE WILL TEST TWO APPROACHES. THE FIRST IS COMBINATION OF A SMALL ROTARY AUGER AND A GAS JET TO BLOW AWAY THE CUTTINGS AND THE SECOND IS TO SUBLIME THE ICE WITH A HEATER (SIMPLER BUT POSSIBLY MORE ENERGY-INTENSIVE). AS THE STEM SPOOLS OUT IT IS GUIDED TO FORM A CYLINDER OF 1.5-CM DIAMETER IN ORDER TO GAIN MECHANICAL STRENGTH. AFTER THE STEM REACHES A DESIRED DEPTH THE DEPLOYMENT MECHANISM IS TURNED OFF AND THE SENSORS EMBEDDED ON THE STEM CARRY OUT NECESSARY MEASUREMENTS. THIS PROJECT WILL LAST 3 YEARS. OUR ENTRY AND EXIT TRLS ARE 1 AND 3 RESPECTIVELY. IN THE FIRST YEAR WE WILL CONDUCT EXTENSIVE TRADE STUDIES FOR THE TWO ICE-EXCAVATION APPROACHES. WE WILL ALSO PERFORM NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS ON THE PROBE DEPLOYMENT ON EUROPA S SURFACE IN CONSTRAINING THE KEY PARAMETERS IN DESIGNING THE PROBE SUCH AS THE DEPTH OF PENETRATION TIME DURATION OF THE THERMAL MEASUREMENTS MEASUREMENT ACCURACY POWER CONSUMPTION ETC. IN THE 2ND YEAR WE WILL BREAD-BOARD KEY COMPONENTS. WE WILL ALSO DEVELOP A SUITABLE SIMULANT FOR THE ICE ON EUROPA. PREVIOUS STUDIES SUGGEST THAT THE ICE ON EUROPA IS POROUS AND MUCH LESS DENSE THAN SOLID ICE. WE WILL DEVELOP A PROCEDURE FOR MAKING SUCH ICE IN A LAB WITH CONSISTENCY. IN THE THIRD YEAR WE WILL ASSEMBLE A TRL-3 PROTOTYPE OF THE HEAT FLOW PROBE AND PERFORM PENETRATION TESTS ON THE ICE SIMULANT PLACED IN OUR EXISTING 3.5 M TALL THERMAL VACUUM CHAMBER AND 6 M TALL WALK-IN FREEZER. WE WILL CONCLUDE THE PROJECT BY LAYING OUT A PATH FORWARD FOR HIGHER TRL. RELEVANCE: THE PICASSO CALL STATES INSTRUMENTS FOCUSED ON DETECTING EXTANT LIFE IN THE OCEAN WORLDS (E.G. ENCELADUS EUROPA ) ARE ESPECIALLY OF INTEREST . THE HEAT FLOW PROBE PROPOSED HERE WILL BE USEFUL FOR CONSTRAINING THE ECO-SYSTEMIC FRAMEWORK OF THE SUBSURFACE OCEAN OF EUROPA AND CONSTRAIN THE THICKNESS OF THE ICE SHELL. | 2017-07-01 → 2021-06-30 | $956K |
| 80NSSC25K7347 | EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES. DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. | 2024-11-07 → 2027-11-06 | $370K |
| NNX15AI82G | THE APOLLO LUNAR SURFACE EXPERIMENTS PACKAGES (ALSEPS) WERE DEPLOYED AT THE APOLLO 12, 14, 15, 16, AND 17 SITES. DATA FROM 14 EXPERIMENTS WERE TRANSM | 2015-07-01 → ? | $266K |
| 80NSSC25K0117 | EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS | 2025-05-19 → 2027-05-18 | $70K |
| 80NSSC25K7223 | EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. | 2024-10-08 → 2026-10-07 | $39K |