University of California, Los Angeles
Lunar obligations
$43Mas prime
Lunar awards
28as prime
Its subcontractors
5$994K reported
Primes it works for
2$226K in subawards
Who it subcontracts to
- Auburn University$305K
CREATE A HYBRID MODEL IMPROVEMENT AND SIMULATION TEST AND ANALYZE THE RESULTS.
WORK WILL INVOLVE EXTENSIVE PREPARATIVE STUDIES TO MAKE SURE THAT THE BLANKS ARE LOW AND REPRODUCIBLE, THAT THE YIELD IS HIGH, THAT HF IS EFFICIENTLY SEPARATED FROM OTHER ELEMENTS, AND THAT ITS ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION CAN BE MEASURED PRECISELY.
REFINE THE EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH ON ANALOG SAMPLES MADE OF OXIDE POWDERS MIMICKING CHONDRITE COMPOSITIONS, BEFORE UNDERTAKING EVAPORATION EXPERIMENTS ON ACTUAL CHONDRITE POWDERS. ONCE THE PROPER SETTINGS (GAS MIXES, HEATING AND COOLING TIMES AND TEMPERATURES, ETC.) ARE DETERMINED, EXPERIMENTS ON THE ACTUAL CHONDRITE POWDERS WILL BEGIN. IN THESE EXPERIMENTS, THEY WILL EVAPORATE CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITE (ALLENDE CV3) AND ENSTATITE CHONDRITE (INDARCH EH4) STARTING MATERIALS AT VARIOUS TEMPERATURES AND OXYGEN FUGACITIES FOR A RANGE OF DURATIONS BY CONTAINERLESS LASER LEVITATION.
CONDUCT 3-D ELECTROMAGNETIC HYBRID SIMULATIONS OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN AN INTERPLANETARY SHOCK AND THE LUNAR BODY AND WAKE.
BARBONI IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHEMICAL ABRASION AND DISSOLUTION OF ZIRCONS IN THE CLEAN ROOM AT PRINCETON. SHE WILL ALSO PARTICIPATE IN RUNNING THE TIMS ANALYSES AND REDUCING THE U/PB DATA, ALONG WITH COLLABORATOR SCHOENE.
Who it works for
CO-I WILLIAMS WILL ANALYZE DIVINER DATA AND THERMAL MODELS TO UNDERSTAND THE LANDING SITE CONDITIONS FOR L-CIRIS AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR THE RESULTING INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE MODELING DURING THE PRE-FLIGHT PHASE. DURING THE FLIGHT PHASE, HE WILL AID IN THE ANALYSES OF THE TIR OBSERVATIONS AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE MODELED THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND PLACE THEM INTO CONTEXT WITH DIVINER OBSERVATIONS.
AT UCLA, CO-I FURLANETTO, POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER MIROCHA, AND A GRADUATE STUDENT (TO BE NAMED) WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR LEADING THE THEORETICAL AND ANALYSIS COMPONENTS OF NESS"S ASTROPHYSICS KEY PROJECT, IMPROVING MODELS OF THE COSMIC DAWN AND DEVELOPING TOOLS TO ANALYZE DATA FROM LUNAR FARSIDE TELESCOPES. YEAR 1: FURLANETTO AND MIROCHA WILL DEVELOP ALGORITHMS TO RELATE SOURCE MODELS TO SPIN-FLIP BACKGROUND MEASUREMENTS FROM POTENTIAL LUNAR FARSIDE INTERFEROMETERS BY EXPANDING CODES USED TO ANALYZE OTHER EARLY UNIVERSE DATA. YEAR 2: MIROCHA WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ANALYSIS ALGORITHMS. FURLANETTO AND THE GRADUATE STUDENT WILL FORMULATE A THEORETICAL MODEL OF THE INTERACTION OF THE FIRST SOURCES AND THEIR RADIATION FIELDS. YEAR 3: FURLANETTO WILL EMBED THE THEORETICAL MODELS IN "SEMI-NUMERIC" CALCULATIONS TO MAKE PREDICTIONS FOR LUNAR FARSIDE INTERFEROMETERS. THE GRADUATE STUDENT WILL LINK THIS WITH THE ANALYSIS ALGORITHMS, EXPANDING THEM TO INCLUDE GALAXY SURVEYS. YEAR 4: THE GRADUATE STUDENT AND FURLANETTO WILL EXPAND THE ANALYSIS ALGORITHMS TO INCLUDE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND MEASUREMENTS, GALAXY CLUSTERING, AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE. THEY WILL FORECAST CONSTRAINTS FROM LUNAR FARSIDE MEASUREMENTS AND IDENTIFY THE KEY SCIENCE IMPROVEMENTS FROM SUCH EFFORTS. YEAR 5: THE GRADUATE STUDENT WILL USE THE ANALYSIS TOOLS DEVELOPED HERE TO MAKE A TRADE STUDY OF INSTRUMENT PARAMETERS FOR A LUNAR FARSIDE INTERFEROMETER. FURLANETTO WILL INVESTIGATE HOW TO INTEGRATE THE ASTROPHYSICS MODELING WITH FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS PROBLEMS IN ORDER TO MEASURE HOW MUCH INFORMATION CAN BE EXTRACTED ABOUT THE LATTER QUESTIONS WITH FUTURE INSTRUMENTS. STEVEN FURLANETTO NESS CO-INVESTIGATOR CURRENT POSITION PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES PHONE (310) 206-4127; SFURLANE@ASTRO.UCLA.EDU ROLE IN NESS DR. FURLANETTO WILL LEAD THE THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS TEAM. HE IS AN EXPERT IN MODELS OF STAR AND BLACK HOLE FORMATION IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE AND CALCULATIONS OF THE 21-CM BACKGROUND. HE HAS ALSO MENTORED THREE PHD STUDENTS AND THREE POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS DURING HIS EIGHT YEARS AT UCLA. EXPERIENCE RELATED TO NESS/SSERVI 2016-: CO-INVESTIGATOR, WFIRST EXTRAGALACTIC POTENTIAL OBSERVATIONS (EXPO) SCIENCE INVESTIGATION TEAM 2013-: CO-INVESTIGATOR, HYDROGEN EPOCH OF REIONIZATION ARRAY (HERA) 2008-14: CO-INVESTIGATOR AND STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER, LUNAR UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR ASTROPHYSICS RESEARCH (LUNAR; NASA NATIONAL LUNAR SCIENCE INSTITUTE) EDUCATION PH.D., ASTRONOMY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 2003 A.M., ASTRONOMY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 2001 M.S., APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND THEORETICAL PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 1999 B.A., PHYSICS, CARLETON COLLEGE, 1998 RELEVANT AWARDS AND HONORS 2011: HELEN B. WARNER PRIZE, AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 2010: ALFRED P. SLOAN FELLOWSHIP 2008: BOK PRIZE, HARVARD UNIVERSITY 2008: DAVID AND LUCILE PACKARD FELLOWSHIP SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (99 REFEREED PUBLICATIONS, 6,009 TOTAL CITATIONS, H-INDEX 43) SUN, G., S. R. FURLANETTO, 2016, CONSTRAINTS ON THE STAR FORMATION EFFICIENCY OF GALAXIES DURING THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION, MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, IN PRESS ROBERTSON, B., R. S. ELLIS, S. R. FURLANETTO, J. S. DUNLOP, COSMIC REIONIZATION AND EARLY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES: A JOINT ANALYSIS OF NEW CONSTRAINTS FROM PLANCK AND THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, VOL. 802, PP. L19-L23 LOEB, A., S. R. FURLANETTO, 2013, THE FIRST GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS: PRINCETON, NJ
Lunar awards as prime
| Award | Description | Period | Obligated |
|---|---|---|---|
| NNG09EK06C | DIVINER LUNAR RADIOMETER EXPERIMENT (DLRE), UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES (UCLA) SEGMENT, PHASE D/E EFFORT UNDER THE LRO PROJECT | 2009-01-01 → 2028-09-30 | $34M |
| 80NSSC21K1407 | FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THE MOON WITH POTENTIALLY HABITABLE ORBITAL AND SURFACE STATIONS IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO CHARACTERIZE THE NEAR-MOON PLASMA ENVIRONMENT INCLUDING ENERGETIC PARTICLE FLUXES AND UNDERSTAND PHYSICAL PROCESSES OF PARTICL | 2021-09-01 → 2028-08-31 | $711K |
| 80NSSC20K0821 | OUR PRIMARY GOAL IN THIS PROPOSED WORK IS TO PERFORM NEW HIGH-ACCURACY HIGH-PRECISION COUPLED U-PB AND LU-HF ISOTOPIC STUDIES OF INDIVIDUAL LUNAR ZIRCONS. | 2020-03-23 → 2026-03-22 | $680K |
| 80NSSC19K0840 | SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS ASSOCIATED WITH AN IMF DIRECTIONAL DISCONTINUITY SUCH AS HOT FLOW ANOMALIES ARE GENERATED BY THE KINETIC INTERACTION OF THE DISCONTINUITY WITH THE QUASI-PARALLEL BOW SHOCK. THE STRONG DENSITY/DYNAMIC PRESSURE PERTURBATIONS WITHIN THE FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS RESULT IN SHARP MAGNETOPAUSE DISTORTION THUS GENERATING DISTURBANCES WITHIN THE MAGNETOSPHERE. OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SUCH GEOEFFECTIVE IMPACT ON THE DAYSIDE HAS GREATLY ADVANCED IN THE PAST FEW YEARS BUT LITTLE IS KNOWN ON HOW THEY IMPACT THE NIGHTSIDE GEOSPACE. OUR PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONAL STUDY HAS SHOWN THESE FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS CAN PROPAGATE TO THE MIDTAIL MAGNETOSHEATH DISTORT THE TAIL MAGNETOPAUSE AND CAUSE DISTURBANCES ON THE NIGHTSIDE MAGNETOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE. THEREFORE OUR GOAL IS TO CONDUCT OBSERVATIONAL EVENT STUDY AND SIMULATIONS TO ADDRESS THREE QUESTIONS KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE NIGHTSIDE IMPACT: (1) HOW DO FORESHORE TRANSIENTS AND THEIR SPATIAL STRUCTURES EVOLVE AS THEY PROPAGATE FROM THE FORESHOCK TO THE TAIL MAGNETOSHEATH? (2) WHAT IS THE 3D STRUCTURE OF THE MAGNETOPAUSE DISTORTION CAUSED BY FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS? (3) WHAT IS THE SPATIAL EXTENT OF THE IMPACT ON THE NIGHTSIDE GEOSPACE? METHODOLOGY: OBSERVATION DATA: WE WILL USE SATELLITE DATA FROM ARTEMIS CLUSTER GEOTAIL MMS WIND AND ACE FROM 2010 TO 2020 TO INVESTIGATE THE TAILWARD PROPAGATION OF FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS. THE IMPACT WITHIN THE MAGNETOSPHERE WILL BE INVESTIGATED BY USING THEMIS AND MMS AND GROUND MAGNETOMETERS AND GEOMAGNETIC INDICES FROM SUPERMAG. SIMULATION: THE KINETIC INTERACTION OF AN IMF DISCONTINUITY AND THE BOW SHOCK CAN BE APPROPRIATELY SIMULATED BY A HYBRID CODE BUT NOT BY AN MHD CODE. THEREFORE WE WILL USE A 3D GLOBAL HYBRID CODE (ANGIE3D) DEVELOPED AT AUBURN UNIVERSITY. THIS IS THE ONLY GLOBAL HYBRID CODE THAT IS CAPABLE OF SIMULATING THE EARTH S NIGHTSIDE MAGNETOSPHERE. IT HAS BEEN USED TO STUDY THE DYNAMICS OF THE EARTH S MAGNETOTAIL. OBSERVATION TASKS: (1)WE WILL CONDUCT EVENT STUDIES OF FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS WITH SIMULTANEOUSLY MULTIPLE-SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS IN THE SOLAR WIND THE FORESHOCK AND THE TAIL MAGNETOSHEATH. WE WILL ANALYZE THE TAILWARD PROPAGATION AND EVOLUTION AND IDENTIFY FACTORS AFFECTING THESE PROCESSES. (2) FOR THESE EVENTS WE WILL CONSTRUCT THE SPATIAL STRUCTURES/SCALES OF FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS. (3) WE WILL COMPARE OUR OBSERVATION RESULTS WITH THE PROPOSED SIMULATION RESULTS TO EVALUATE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES BYHIND THE EVOLUTION OF THE FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS AND IMPACTS. (2)SIMULATION TASKS: (1) WE WILL CONDUCT SEVERAL RUNS WITH DIFFERENT IMF DIRECTIONAL DISCONTINUITIES (FOR EXAMPLE DIFFERENT ORIENTATIONS FOR THE DISCONTINUITIES) EMBEDDED WITHIN SIMPLE AND IDEALIZED SOLAR WIND/IMF CONDITIONS TO INVESTIGATE GENERAL FEATURES OF FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS THEIR PROPAGATION AND EVOLUTION WITHIN THE TAIL MAGNETOSHEATH AND IMPACT ON THE MAGNETOPAUSE MAGNETOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE. (2) WE WILL SELECT 4 GOOD EVENTS FROM OUR OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES AND CONDUCT EVENT SIMULATIONS WITH THE OBSERVED SOLAR WIND/IMF CONDITIONS. WE WILL USE THESE SIMULATION RESULTS TO GUIDE OUR INVESTIGATION OF THE OBSERVATIONS TO ADDRESS OUR SCIENCE QUESTIONS. RELEVANCE: FORESHOCK TRANSIENTS RESULTING FROM THE INTERACTION OF IMF DISCONTINUITIES WITH THE BOW SHOCK IS ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES IN HELIOSPHERE. OUR STUDY OF THEIR TAILWARD PROPAGATION AND IMPACT ON THE EARTH S NIGHTSIDE MAGNETOSPHERE DIRECTLY ADDRESSES TWO SCIENCE GOALS FROM HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE AND DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS. | 2019-04-16 → 2023-04-15 | $673K |
| 80NSSC18K1122 | MAGNETIC RECONNECTION TRIGGERED BY PLASMA INSTABILITIES IN THIN CURRENT SHEETS PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN THE MAGNETOTAIL KINETIC AND DYNAMIC PROCESSES. IT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GENERATION OF FLUX ROPES (FRS) BURSTY BULK FLOWS (BBFS) AND DIPOLARIZING FLUX BUNDLES (DFBS) WHICH PROPAGATE TOWARD THE EARTH OR FURTHER DOWN TAIL. THEREFORE ALTHOUGH MAGNETOTAIL RECONNECTION IS LOCALIZED IN A SMALL SCALE REGION IT HAS GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES. IT IS KNOWN THAT PARTICLES ARE ACCELERATED (TO ENERGIES ~KEV) BY MAGNETOTAIL RECONNECTION AND FURTHER ACCELERATED (UP TO MEV) VIA INTERACTION WITH THE CONSEQUENT KINETIC STRUCTURES AND INJECTION INTO THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE. HOWEVER (1) HOW PARTICLES ARE ACCELERATED BY MAGNETOTAIL RECONNECTION AND ITS CONSEQUENT KINETIC STRUCTURES AND (2) HOW THESE ACCELERATED PARTICLES ARE INJECTED INTO THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE VIA THE INTERACTION OF THESE EARTHWARD PROPAGATING STRUCTURES WITH DIPOLE FIELD ARE STILL NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD. TO REVEAL THESE TWO IMPORTANT PROCESSES WE PROPOSE A SYNERGISTIC STUDY USING MULTISPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS AND PARTICLE-IN-CELL (PIC) SIMULATIONS. WE WILL USE THEMIS AND ARTEMIS SPACECRAFT SIMULTANEOUS OBSERVATIONS IN THE MAGNETOTAIL AT DIFFERENT GEOCENTRIC DISTANCES TO INVESTIGATE PARTICLE ENERGIZATION AND INJECTION DURING RECONNECTION AND EARTHWARD/ TAILWARD TRANSPORT. WE WILL USE LARGE-SCALE TWO-DIMENSIONAL (2-D) AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3-D) PIC MODELS GUIDED BY OUR OBSERVATIONS AND PHYSICAL INTUITIONS TO SIMULATE THE ENERGETIC PARTICLE ACCELERATION AND INJECTION PROCESSES. SCIENCE GOAL AND OBJECTIVES: BY COMPREHENSIVE USE OF MULTISPACECRAFT DATASETS AND NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS WE WILL: (1) INVESTIGATE THE MULTISTAGE SUCCESSIVE PARTICLE ACCELERATION PROCESS BY MAGNETOTAIL COLLISIONLESS RECONNECTION AND ITS CONSEQUENT KINETIC STRUCTURES: FRS BBFS AND DFBS. (2) EXPLORE HOW THE ACCELERATED PARTICLES ARE INJECTED INTO THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE VIA THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THESE EARTHWARD PROPAGATING STRUCTURES WITH THE GEOMAGNETIC DIPOLE FIELD. RELEVANCE TO ONE OR MORE OF THE FOUR DECADAL SURVEY GOALS: THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH CONTRIBUTES TO TWO OF THE FOUR HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY 2. DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS AND 4. DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE . METHODOLOGY: DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING: (1) WE WILL USE STATISTICS OF FIVE THEMIS SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS IN 2008-2009 TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFICIENCY OF ACCELERATION ASSOCIATED WITH PLASMA FLOWS ORIGINATING FROM THE RECONNECTION AND PROPAGATING EARTHWARD. STATISTICS OF THREE THEMIS SPACECRAFT IN 2010-2017 WILL BE USED TO COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT PARTICLE ENERGIZATIONS AND INJECTIONS. SIMULTANEOUS OBSERVATIONS OF THEMIS AND ARTEMIS SPACECRAFT WILL SERVE FOR INVESTIGATION OF EFFICIENCY OF PARTICLE ACCELERATION WITHIN EARTHWARD AND TAILWARD FLOWS. (2) WE WILL USE LARGE-SCALE 2-D AND 3-D PIC SIMULATIONS IN WHICH ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS ARE UPDATED BY SOLVING MAXWELL S EQUATIONS WITH AN EXPLICIT LEAPFROG SCHEME AND PARTICLES (ELECTRONS AND IONS) ARE ADVANCED RELATIVISTICALLY IN THE FIELDS. THE SIMULATIONS EMPLOY AN INITIAL CONFIGURATION OF A DIPOLE FIELD PLUS A THIN HARRIS CURRENT SHEET. NO INITIAL PERTURBATIONS OR EXTERNAL DRIVING FIELDS WILL BE IMPOSED MULTIPLE X-LINE RECONNECTION WILL BE TRIGGERED SPONTANEOUSLY AND NUMBERS OF FRS BBFS AND DFBS ARE EXPECTED TO BE GENERATED AND PROPAGATE TOWARD THE EARTH/TAIL. | 2018-06-26 → 2022-06-25 | $626K |
| 80NSSC19K0511 | OBJECTIVES: RECENT ADVANCES IN OUR ABILITY TO MEASURE STABLE ISOTOPE RATIOS OF LIGHT ROCK-FORMING ELEMENTS INCLUDING ISOTOPE RATIOS OF ZN K FE MG AND SI AMONG OTHERS HAS RESULTED IN AN EMERGING HYPOTHESIS THAT COLLISIONS AMONG ROCKY PLANETESIMALS PLANETARY EMBRYOS AND/OR PROTO-PLANETS CAUSED LOSSES OF MODERATELY VOLATILE ELEMENTS (E.G. K) AND "COMMON" OR MODERATELY REFRACTORY ELEMENTS (MG SI). IF CORRECT THIS HYPOTHESIS WOULD ARGUE FOR A PREVALENCE OF MAGMA OCEANS EXPOSED TO SPACE DURING PLANET FORMATION. THE PRIMARY MOTIVATING EVIDENCE IS IN THE FORM OF HEAVY ISOTOPE ENRICHMENTS IN SEVERAL ROCK-FORMING ELEMENTS RELATIVE TO CHONDRITES. OUR GOAL IS TO ASSESS THE MEANING OF HEAVY ISOTOPE ENRICHMENT OF MODERATELY REFRACTORY ELEMENTS IN ROCKY SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES BY CALIBRATING SELF-CONSISTENT MODELS FOR MULTI-ELEMENT ISOTOPE FRACTIONATION DURING EVAPORATION USING EXPERIMENTS ON RELEVANT STARTING MATERIALS. APPROACH: EXPERIMENTS WILL BE PERFORMED UNDER A VARIETY OF CONDITIONS (TEMPERATURE ENVELOPING GAS MOLECULAR WEIGHT OXYGEN FUGACITY) TO EXPLORE THE FACTORS CONTROLLING THE RELATIVE FRACTIONATIONS IN THE DIFFERENT ISOTOPE SYSTEMS. THESE NEW DATA WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE RECENT HYPOTHESES THAT ENRICHMENT IN THE HEAVY ISOTOPES OF MG SI AND FE IN DIFFERENTIATED ROCKY BODIES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM (E.G. EARTH MARS MOON AND THE ANGRITE PARENT BODY) RESULTED FROM EVAPORATION OF MAGMA OCEANS ON PLANET PRECURSORS. WE PROPOSE A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS TO EVAPORATE CARBONACEOUS AND ENSTATITE CHONDRITE STARTING MATERIALS AT VARIOUS TEMPERATURES AND OXYGEN FUGACITIES. WE WILL: 1. HEAT SAMPLES WITH AN INFRARED LASER AS THEY ARE AERODYNAMICALLY LEVITATED IN GASES OF CONTROLLED COMPOSITION 2. MEASURE BULK CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS OF SYNTHETIC AND NATURAL CHONDRITIC STARTING MATERIALS AND THEIR EVAPORATIVE RESIDUES USING EPMA 3. CALCULATE MASS LOSS RATES AND EVAPORATIVE FLUXES 4. DEFINE REFERENCE FLUXES FOR SPECIFIED COMPOSITIONS T PTOTAL AND PO2 5. USE THE DERIVED EVAPORATIVE FLUXES TO DERIVE RELEVANT EVAPORATION PARAMETERS 6. MEASURE FE MG SI AND O ISOTOPE RATIOS FOR THE STARTING MATERIALS AND EVAPORATION RESIDUES AT DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MASS LOSS USING MC-ICPMS AND LASER-HEATING ASSISTED FLUORINATION 7. USE THE RESULTS TO ASSESS COMPETING MODELS FOR EVAPORATION OF MOLTEN SILICATES AS THE CAUSE OF HEAVY ISOTOPE ENRICHMENT IN EARTH MARS MOON AND METEORITE PARENT BODIES (E.G. THE ANGRITE PARENT BODY). OUR APPROACH TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A NEW METHOD FOR MELTING AND EVAPORATING MATERIALS UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS. THE RESULTS WILL BE A SELF-CONSISTENT SET OF EXPERIMENTALLY-DETERMINED EVAPORATION PARAMETERS RELEVANT TO THE PROBLEM OF PLANETESIMAL EVOLUTION. RELEVANCE TO EMERGING WORLDS: THE PROPOSED EXPERIMENTS WILL PROVIDE ESSENTIAL AND DEFINITIVE DATA NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT DETAILED MODELS FOR EVAPORATION FROM CHONDRITIC-LIKE MELTS THAT IN TURN CAN BE USED TO TEST QUANTITATIVELY THE PROPOSAL THAT EVAPORATION IMPARTED ISOTOPIC SIGNATURES FOR THESE ELEMENTS TO ROCKY BODIES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. THE "EMERGING WORLDS" PROGRAM HAS THE STATED GOAL OF FOSTERING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FORMATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM INCLUDING THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF PLANET PRECURSORS (ROSES APPENDIX C.2). OUR WORK IS DIRECTED TOWARDS ACHIEVING A FULLER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW ROCKY BODIES ACQUIRED THEIR CHEMICAL AND ISOTOPIC CHARACTERISTICS AND SO IS RELEVANT TO THE STATED GOALS OF THE PROGRAM. | 2019-03-01 → 2024-02-29 | $620K |
| 2409284 | LABORATORY STUDIES OF LASER-DRIVEN, ION-SCALE MINI-MAGNETOSPHERES ON THE LARGE PLASMA DEVICE -MAGNETOSPHERES FORM WHEN A FLOWING PLASMA, LIKE THE SOLAR WIND, IMPACTS A MAGNETIC OBSTACLE, LIKE A PLANET, AND ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF SPACE WEATHER SYSTEMS. EARTH?S MAGNETOSPHERE HAS BEEN OBSERVED BY SPACECRAFT FOR DECADES, BUT MAGNETOSPHERES CAN ALSO EXIST ON MUCH SMALLER SCALES, SUCH AS AROUND SMALL MOONS OR ASTEROIDS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO STUDY DIRECTLY. THIS PROJECT UTILIZES LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO CREATE AND EXPLORE ARTIFICIAL VERSIONS OF THESE ?MINI? MAGNETOSPHERES. BY LEVERAGING THE ABILITY OF LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO BE CARRIED OUT WITH HIGH REPEATABILITY IN A CONTROLLED SETTING, THE EXPERIMENTS WILL PROVIDE AN UNPRECEDENTED, HIGH-RESOLUTION THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAP OF A DYNAMIC MAGNETOSPHERE. THIS WILL ADVANCE OUR FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF SPACE WEATHER BY INVESTIGATING MAGNETIC RECONNECTION, A KEY PROCESS THAT CAN DRIVE GEOMAGNETIC STORMS THAT POSE EXTREME HAZARDS TO HUMAN ACTIVITIES IN SPACE. THE PROJECT WILL UTILIZE THE LARGE PLASMA DEVICE (LAPD) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES AND INCLUDES A COLLABORATION WITH THE INSTITUTO SUPERIOR T?CNICO IN LISBON, PORTUGAL. THE PROJECT ALSO PROVIDES ADVANCED TRAINING AND MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITY TO A DIVERSE GROUP OF UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS TO PREPARE THEM FOR THE STEM WORKFORCE. MAGNETOSPHERES ARE A UBIQUITOUS FEATURE OF MAGNETIZED BODIES EMBEDDED IN A PLASMA FLOW. IN PLANETARY MAGNETOSPHERES, A KEY PROCESS DRIVING MAGNETOSPHERIC DYNAMICS IS MAGNETIC RECONNECTION, IN WHICH MAGNETIC ENERGY IS EXPLOSIVELY RELEASED WHEN OPPOSING MAGNETIC FIELD LINES MERGE AND ANNIHILATE. IN SPACE ENVIRONMENTS, THIS RECONNECTION IS COLLISIONLESS AND CONTROLLED BY KINETIC-SCALE PLASMA PHYSICS. MINI-MAGNETOSPHERES, SMALL ION-SCALE STRUCTURES THAT ARE WELL-SUITED TO STUDYING KINETIC-SCALE PHYSICS, PROVIDE A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT FOR STUDYING MAGNETOSPHERIC RECONNECTION THAT CAN BE CREATED IN THE LABORATORY. THIS PROJECT WILL CREATE ION-SCALE MAGNETOSPHERES BY COUPLING A SUPERSONIC, LASER-DRIVEN PLASMA FLOW WITH A DIPOLE MAGNET EMBEDDED IN THE UNIFORM, MAGNETIZED PLASMA OF THE LARGE PLASMA DEVICE (LAPD) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES. LEVERAGING THE HIGH-REPETITION AND REPRODUCIBLE CAPABILITIES OF THE PLATFORM AND HIGH-FIDELITY 3D NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS, THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT ARE TO 1) DEVELOP A NOVEL 3D THOMSON SCATTERING DIAGNOSTIC FOR MEASURING KEY PLASMA PARAMETERS IN MINI-MAGNETOSPHERE EXPERIMENTS; 2) MEASURE FOR THE FIRST TIME THE MAGNETIC RECONNECTION RATE IN BOTH DAYSIDE AND MAGNETOTAIL CONFIGURATIONS THROUGH HIGHLY-RESOLVED, VOLUMETRIC DATASETS; AND 3) INVESTIGATE HOW MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IMPACTS THE GLOBAL STRUCTURE OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE. THE LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS WILL HELP VALIDATE NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS AND MAGNETOSPHERIC MODELS, AS WELL AS COMPLEMENT SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS OF MINI-MAGNETOSPHERES SUCH AS THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH SMALL MOONS, COMETS, AND LUNAR MAGNETIC ANOMALIES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD. | 2024-07-01 → 2027-06-30 | $585K |
| NNX17AI26G | AT 60 RE FROM EARTH IN LUNAR ORBIT THE TWO ARTEMIS SPACECRAFT SPEND AMPLE TIME IN THE UNDISTURBED SOLAR WIND PROVIDING RAPID SAMPLING OF THE PLASMA AND FIELDS TO ACCUMULATE A LARGE LIBRARY OF INTERPLANETARY SHOCK CROSSINGS. SEPARATED BY A SHORT BASELINE THIS SET OF DUAL SHOCK MEASUREMENTS ALLOWS US TO EXAMINE THE STABILITY OF THE INTERPLANETARY SHOCK IN SPACE AND TIME AS NEVER BEFORE DONE. FURTHER THIS COLLECTION ALLOWS A NOVEL EXPERIMENT IN WHICH WE CAN WATCH THE SHOCK RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS AFTER THE SHOCK IS DISRUPTED BY THE MOON. INTERPLANETARY SHOCK WAVES ARE A FUNDAMENTAL PLASMA PROCESS AND ARE CRITICAL TO THE ACCELERATION OF CHARGED PARTICLES. IN THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES STUDIES USING MULTIPLE SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS HAVE LARGELY COVERED THE MHD SCALE OF THE SHOCK AND REVEALED THE SHOCK EVOLUTION ON SPATIAL SCALES FROM 105 TO SEVERAL MILLIONS OF KILOMETERS. HOWEVER KINETIC PROCESSES THAT DEPEND ON THE SPECIFIC LOCAL SHOCK STRENGTH THE MAGNETIC STRUCTURE ENCOUNTERED AND PROCESSES ON THE ION GYRO SCALE ARE NOT COVERED BY PREVIOUS STUDIES. MOREOVER THE NEAR PRESENCE OF THE MOON ALLOWS US TO PERTURB THE SHOCK IN A KNOWN WAY AND WATCH IT RECOVER IN A MANNER THAT MAY NOT BE SIMILAR TO THE PROCESSES THAT WE HAVE KNOWN. BASED ON THE UNIQUENESS OF THE ARTEMIS DATA THAT PROVIDE SAMPLE RATES OF 4 HZ FOR THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND 0.25 HZ FOR PLASMA MOMENTS DURING FAST SURVEY AND THAT ARISE FROM TWO SPACECRAFT WITH SEPARATION RANGING FROM ~5X102 TO 5X104 KM (~0.08 7.8 RE) WE ADDRESS TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS OF THE FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE TO HELIOSPHERIC PLASMA PHYSICS: 1) WHAT IS THE SHOCK S 3D-STRUCTURE SIGNATURE ON SCALES CLOSE TO THE GYRO RADIUS? ARTEMIS ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND THE SHOCK STATIONARITY OVER A SPATIAL DIMENSION OF A FEW EARTH RADII AND TEMPORAL SCALE OF 2 MINUTES OR LESS INCLUDING THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL MICROSTRUCTURE WITHIN THE SHOCK LAYER AND PROVIDES A MEASURE OF THE SHOCK SUPER-CRITICALITY AS CHARACTERIZED BY THE STRENGTH OF THE SHOCK AND SHOCK FOOT AND OVERSHOOT. 2) HOW DO SHOCKS SELF-RECONSTRUCT AFTER BEING INTERRUPTED BY AN OBSTACLE? THE PLANAR SHOCK WAVES ARE DISRUPTED WHEN ENCOUNTERING THE MOON. IF THE SHOCK CAN MEND ITSELF IN SUCH AN ENVIRONMENT WHAT IS THE PHYSICS BEHIND THE RECOVERY PROCESS? AND WILL THE HEALED AREA EVENTUALLY BE MELDED INTO THE ORIGINAL SHOCK TO REMAKE THE SHOCK AS UNIFORM AS BEFORE THE RUPTURE? THE TECHNICAL APPROACH STRATEGIES ARE COMPRISED OF DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA COMPARISON WITH APPROPRIATE THEORETICAL MODELS FOR THE FIRST QUESTION AND CONDUCTING 3D HYBRID SIMULATIONS FOR THE SECOND QUESTION. FIVE STEPS OF DATA ANALYSIS ARE USED TO IDENTIFY SHOCKS TO OBTAIN SHOCK PARAMETERS SHOCK UP AND DOWNSTREAM PLASMA AND MAGNETIC FIELD CONDITIONS SHOCK CRITICALITY AND TO ANALYZE SHOCK STATIONARITY AND STRUCTURE AT THE SHOCK LAYER. THEORIES ABOUT THE DOWNSTREAM PLASMA BEHAVIOR THE SHOCK STRUCTURE THE PARTICLE ACCELERATION THE PHYSICS OF SHOCK CRITICALITY AND SHOCK STEEPENING ARE TESTED USING THE RESULTS FROM THE FIVE STEPS. WE WILL OBTAIN 3D ELECTROMAGNETIC HYBRID (KINETIC IONS FLUID ELECTRONS) SIMULATIONS TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF SHOCK GEOMETRY AND SHOCK TYPE IN THE SHOCK RECONSTRUCTION IN THE LUNAR WAKE. SIX WAKE EVENTS WILL BE USED FOR SIX HYBRID RUNS WITH SOLAR WIND OBSERVATIONS AS THE INPUT OF THE RUN AND THE COUNTERPART MEASUREMENT IN THE WAKE FOR COMPARISON WITH THE SIMULATION RESULTS. THIS PROPOSED INVESTIGATION FULLY COMPLIES WITH THE SCIENTIFIC SCOPE REQUIREMENT OF THE NASA/HSR PROGRAM AND ADDRESSES THE 5TH SCIENCE AREA OF HELIOSPHERIC PLASMA PROCESSES TURBULENCE WAVES COMPOSITION. RESULTS OF THIS INVESTIGATION WILL PROVIDE NEW INSIGHT INTO SHOCK STATIONARITY AND STRUCTURE ON ION GYRO SCALES AND INTO THE SHOCK RECONSTRUCTION AND STEEPENING. IN ADDITION TO THE SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS OF THIS INVESTIGATION WE PROVIDE PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE ARTEMIS SHOCK DATABASE BY POSTING IT ON THE THEMIS WEBSITE. | 2017-04-03 → 2022-04-02 | $568K |
| 80NSSC18K0603 | OBJECTIVES: THE OVERARCHING OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH OUTLINED IN THIS PROPOSAL IS TO ELUCIDATE THE PROCESSES THAT LEAD ULTIMATELY TO FORMATION OF EARTH AND OTHER TERRESTRIAL-LIKE PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. OUR PRIMARY FOCUS WILL BE ON THE SORTING OF ELEMENTS AND THEIR ISOTOPES BY THEIR RELATIVE VOLATILITIES. TWO PROJECTS ARE PROPOSED: 1) EXPERIMENTS SIMULATING THE CHEMICAL AND ISOTOPIC EFFECTS OF COLLISION-INDUCED MELTING OF PLANET PRECURSORS; AND 2) EXPLICATION OF POSSIBLE CRYSTAL CHEMICAL CONTROLS ON HIGH-PRECISION OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS THAT COULD INFLUENCE OUR INTERPRETATIONS OF THESE DATA IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL SAMPLES. APPROACH: FOR THE FIRST PROJECT (THE LARGEST OF THE TWO) THEIR APPROACH IS TO TEST THE EMERGING HYPOTHESIS THAT THE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITIONS OF ROCKY BODIES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM ARE THE RESULT OF COLLISIONS. THEY PROPOSE A PROGRAM OF EXPERIMENTS TO MEASURE THE CHEMICAL AND ISOTOPIC CONSEQUENCES OF MELTING AND EVAPORATION USING CHONDRITIC STARTING MATERIALS. THE GOAL IS TO ASSESS THE MEANING OF HEAVY ISOTOPE ENRICHMENT OF MODERATELY REFRACTORY ELEMENTS IN ROCKY SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES BY CALIBRATING SELF-CONSISTENT MODELS FOR ISOTOPE FRACTIONATION DURING EVAPORATION. EXPERIMENTS WILL BE PERFORMED BY HEATING SAMPLES WITH AN INFRARED LASER AS THEY ARE AERODYNAMICALLY LEVITATED IN A GAS OF CONTROLLED COMPOSITION. BULK CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS AND ISOTOPE RATIOS FOR SI MG FE AND O WILL BE MEASURED IN THE EVAPORATIVE RESIDUES PRODUCED UNDER A VARIETY OF CONDITIONS (E.G. DIFFERENT VALUES FOR FO2). RESULTS FROM THESE EXPERIMENTS CAN BE USED TO TEST QUANTITATIVELY THE HYPOTHESIS THAT EVAPORATION DURING COLLISIONS WAS THE PRIMARY CONTROL ON THE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITIONS OF SI MG FE AND O (MASS DEPENDENT ONLY) COMPRISING EARTH MARS VESTA AND OTHER BODIES. FOR THE SECOND PROJECT THEY PLAN TO FOLLOW UP ON OUR EARLIER STUDIES OF LUNAR HIGHLAND ROCKS SHOWING THAT THESE SAMPLES HAVE CURIOUSLY LOW MASS-INDEPENDENT OXYGEN ISOTOPE SIGNALS COMPARED WITH LUNAR BASALTS. THEY HAVE FOUND A CORRELATION BETWEEN SIGNALS OF THIS NATURE IN TERRESTRIAL ANALOGS AND CRYSTAL CHEMICAL PARAMETERS INCLUDING BULK MODULUS AND THERMAL EXPANSIVITY. IF THIS OXYGEN ISOTOPE SIGNAL IS CRYSTAL CHEMICAL IT PLACES A LIMIT ON THE USEFULNESS OF ULTRA-HIGH-PRECISION OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO MEASUREMENTS AS A MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING DISTINCT SOURCES OF OXYGEN IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL SAMPLES. ULTRA-HIGH-PRECISION OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO MEASUREMENTS IN LUNAR AND TERRESTRIAL MINERALS REPRESENTING DIFFERENT STRUCTURES (E.G. ORTHOSILICATES VS. TECTOSILICATES) ARE PLANNED TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. RELEVANCE TO EMERGING WORLDS: THE EMERGING WORLDS PROGRAM HAS THE STATED GOAL OF FOSTERING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FORMATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM INCLUDING THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF PLANET PRECURSORS. THEIR WORK IS DIRECTED TOWARDS ACHIEVING A FULLER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW ROCKY BODIES ACQUIRED THEIR CHEMICAL AND ISOTOPIC CHARACTERISTICS AND SO IS RELEVANT TO THE GOALS OF THE PROGRAM. | 2018-04-01 → 2022-03-31 | $526K |
| 2320946 | LABORATORY STUDIES OF LASER-DRIVEN, ION-SCALE MINI-MAGNETOSPHERES ON THE LAPD -THIS PROJECT WILL USE LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO STUDY MAGNETOSPHERES OF COSMIC OBJECTS. MAGNETOSPHERES FORM WHEN A FLOWING PLASMA, LIKE THE SOLAR WIND, IMPACTS A MAGNETIC OBSTACLE, LIKE A PLANET, AND ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF SPACE WEATHER SYSTEMS. EARTH?S MAGNETOSPHERE HAS BEEN OBSERVED BY SPACECRAFT FOR DECADES, BUT MAGNETOSPHERES CAN ALSO EXIST ON MUCH SMALLER SCALES, SUCH AS AROUND COMETS OR ASTEROIDS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO STUDY DIRECTLY. THIS PROJECT WILL CREATE AND EXPLORE ARTIFICIAL VERSIONS OF THESE ?MINI? MAGNETOSPHERES IN A LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT. BY LEVERAGING THE ABILITY OF THE EXPERIMENTS TO BE CARRIED OUT WITH HIGH REPEATABILITY, THIS STUDY WILL PROVIDE AN UNPRECEDENTED, HIGH-RESOLUTION THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAP OF A DYNAMIC MAGNETOSPHERE. THE RESULTS WILL ADVANCE OUR FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF MAGNETOSPHERES AT THE SMALLEST SCALES AND, IN TURN, IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO MODEL PLANETARY, INCLUDING EARTH'S, MAGNETOSPHERES. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO PROVIDE ADVANCED TRAINING AND MENTORSHIP TO GRADUATE STUDENTS TO PREPARE THEM FOR THE U.S. STEM WORKFORCE. MINI-MAGNETOSPHERES PROVIDE A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT TO STUDY KINETIC-SCALE PLASMA PHYSICS THAT HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN MODELED WITH NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS. THIS PROJECT WILL CREATE ION-SCALE MAGNETOSPHERES BY COUPLING A SUPERSONIC, LASER-DRIVEN PLASMA FLOW WITH A DIPOLE MAGNET EMBEDDED IN THE UNIFORM, MAGNETIZED PLASMA OF THE LARGE PLASMA DEVICE (LAPD) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES. HIGH-REPETITION EXPERIMENTS WILL PRODUCE HIGHLY-RESOLVED, VOLUMETRIC DATASETS IN ORDER TO 1) EXAMINE THE EVOLUTION OF GLOBAL MAGNETOSPHERIC STRUCTURE FOR A RANGE OF DIPOLE MAGNET AND PLASMA PARAMETERS, 2) STUDY THE DEPENDENCE OF MAGNETOSPHERIC STRUCTURE AND MAGNETIC RECONNECTION DYNAMICS ON THE ORIENTATION OF THE DIPOLE FIELD, 3) OBSERVE THE FORMATION OF BOW SHOCKS, AND 4) COMPARE TO 3D PARTICLE-IN-CELL SIMULATIONS. THE RESULTS WILL HELP VALIDATE NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS AND MAGNETOSPHERIC MODELS, AS WELL AS COMPLEMENT SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS OF MINI-MAGNETOSPHERES SUCH AS THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH COMETS AND LUNAR MAGNETIC ANOMALIES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA. | 2023-04-01 → 2024-11-30 | $465K |
| 80NSSC25K7430 | 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 | 2025-01-01 → 2027-12-31 | $458K |
| 80NSSC21K0711 | THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WILL BE TO COMPARE OBSERVATIONS BY SHADOWCAM LUTI AND KPLO GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETER (KGRS) WITH OBSERVED RADIANCE BY THE LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (LRO) DIVINER INSTRUMENT. | 2021-08-01 → 2025-07-31 | $381K |
| FA95502210036 | PLASMONIC METAMATERIALS FOR HIGH DELTA-V LASER ABLATION PROPULSION IN CISLUNAR ORBITS | 2021-11-15 → 2025-11-14 | $369K |
| 80NSSC25M7047 | 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 | 2025-03-01 → 2028-02-29 | $361K |
| 80NSSC25K7683 | 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 | 2025-04-02 → 2028-04-01 | $349K |
| NNX16AD35G | THE TIMING OF THE SOLIDIFICATION OF THE LUNAR CRUST IS WIDELY RECOGNIZED AS AN IMPORTANT PARAMETER IN MODELS OF THE GIANT IMPACT ORIGIN OF THE MOON A | 2016-01-07 → ? | $342K |
| NNX15AV78G | RECENT ANALYSIS OF THE APOLLO MAGNETOMETER DATA HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT NARROWBAND ION CYCLOTRON WAVES (ICWS) ARE OFTEN PRESENT ON THE LUNAR SURFACE WH | 2015-08-29 → ? | $311K |
| 80NSSC25K7918 | A COMPREHENSIVE ISOTOPE STUDY ON THE ORIGIN OF LUNAR VOLCANIC GLASS BEADS | 2025-07-01 → 2028-06-30 | $297K |
| 80NSSC25K7545 | THE ROSES FUNDING OPPORTUNITY GOALS ARE: 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. | 2025-04-23 → 2027-04-22 | $269K |
| 80NSSC18K0010 | SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES: THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO EXPLORE HOW SEVERAL FACTORS CAN INFLUENCE CRATER SIZE-FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS (CSFDS) AND THE RESULTING DERIVED MODEL AGES OF SURFACES ON THE MOON AND MARS. RADIOMETRIC AND COSMIC RAY EXPOSURE AGES OF APOLLO AND LUNA SAMPLES CORRELATED WITH CRATER POPULATIONS ANCHOR THE LUNAR CRATER CHRONOLOGY AND ENABLE SYSTEMS OF CRATER RETENTION AGE ISOCHRONS TO BE DEVELOPED FOR OTHER SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES. MANY ASPECTS OF THIS DATING TECHNIQUE HOWEVER ARE FRAUGHT WITH CHALLENGES RENDERING THE MODELED ABSOLUTE AGES UNCERTAIN; OFTEN EXCEEDING THE AGE RESOLUTION REQUIRED FOR MANY OF THE GEOLOGIC PROBLEMS TO WHICH THEY ARE BEING APPLIED. SOURCES OF UNCERTAINTY INCLUDE: A RANGE OF RADIOMETRIC AND EXPOSURE AGES OBSERVED IN THE SAMPLES ACQUIRED FROM A SINGLE LOCATION WHETHER THE IMPACT RATE HAS BEEN CONSTANT OR DECLINING OVER THE LAST ~3 GA OR EXPERIENCED SPIKES (PARTLY DUE TO A COMPLETE LACK OF SAMPLES FROM SURFACES WITH THE AGE ~1 TO ~3 GA REPRESENTING A SUBSTANTIAL OBSERVATIONAL GAP IN THE CHRONOLOGY) CSFDS THAT VARY SIGNIFICANTLY WITHIN A SINGLE DATED UNIT. IN THIS WORK WE FOCUS ON THE LATER PROBLEM SPECIFICALLY FOCUSING ON THE COPERNICAN (MOON) AND AMAZONIAN (MARS) IMPACT CRATER POPULATIONS AND FACTORS THAT MAY RESULT IN A VARIATION IN THE OBSERVED CSFDS. | 2017-10-02 → 2021-10-01 | $264K |
| 80NSSC17K0076 | CUBESATS ENABLE A WIDE RANGE OF IMPORTANT LOW-COST SPACE MISSIONS LEVERAGING INCREASING DENSIFICATION OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT TO PERFORM TASKS PREVIOUSLY IN THE REALM OF MUCH LARGER SPACECRAFT. CUBESATS IN SIZES OF 3U-12U ARE A PROMISING PLATFORM FOR FUTURE NASA EXPLORATION AND SCIENCE MISSIONS INCLUDING LUNAR REMOTE SENSING NEO EXPLORATION AND PLANETARY DEFENSE BUT CURRENTLY LACK THE HIGH PROPULSION REQUIRED FOR THESE EXCITING APPLICATIONS. ION THRUSTERS ARE CURRENTLY THE BEST OPTION FOR LOW POWER MN RANGE EP AS REQUIRED FOR HIGH SMALLSAT MISSIONS. THESE THRUSTERS ARE INHERENTLY MORE EFFICIENT THAN OTHER OPTIONS SUCH AS RF OR MICROWAVE AND ARE CAPABLE OF HIGH TOTAL IMPULSE. | 2017-08-01 → ? | $246K |
| 80NSSC25K0084 | 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 AGENCYS 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. | 2025-09-01 → 2028-08-31 | $225K |
| 80NSSC25K7673 | 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 | 2025-05-01 → 2028-04-30 | $174K |
| 80NSSC22K1929 | 20-HIDS20_2-0008 UNDERSTANDING ION COMPOSITION AT LUNAR ORBITS | 2022-09-06 → 2027-09-05 | $146K |
| 80NSSC25K7717 | THE ROSES FUNDING OPPORTUNITY GOALS ARE: 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. | 2025-02-18 → 2028-02-17 | $109K |
| NNX16AQ16G | LUNAR, MARTIAN AND LARGE-ASTEROIDAL GEOCHEMISTRY THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH WILL BE TO CONSTRAIN THE DEGREE TO WHICH LUNAR FERROAN ANORTHOSITES HAVE | 2016-09-10 → ? | $72K |
| 80NSSC20K1394 | APOLLO-ERA EXPLORATIONS RADICALLY ALTERED OUR VIEWS OF LUNAR ORIGIN AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM. BASED ON DISTURBANCES TO U-PB AND RB-SR ISOTOPES IN HIGHLAND SAMPLES TERA ET AL. (1974 EPSL 22 1) CONCLUDED THAT THESE ROCKS HAD EXPERIENCED A SHORTLIVED IMPACT PULSE LEADING TO NEAR COMPLETE THERMAL RESETTING OF THE LUNAR SURFACE A TERMINAL CATACLYSM (LATER TERMED THE LATE HEAVY BOMBARDMENT LHB). THIS INTERPRETATION PRESENTED SOMETHING OF A CONUNDRUM AS PB-U FRACTIONATION WAS ASCRIBED TO PB VOLATILIZATION BUT THE UNDISTURBED RB-SR WHOLE ROCKS IMPLY THAT RB WAS NOT SIMILARLY AFFECTED. TERA ET AL. (1974) ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THE LACK OF A MECHANISM TO EXPLAIN THIS DIFFERENTIAL BEHAVIOR REMAINS A BASIC PROBLEM . SUBSEQUENTLY MANY RESEARCHERS ARGUED THAT 40AR/39AR AGE SPECTRA ALSO SUPPORT A THERMAL PULSE AT CA. 3.9 GA. IF THIS HYPOTHESIS IS CORRECT IT HAS TREMENDOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR LUNAR HISTORY BUT ALSO FOR EARTH HABITABILITY AND SURFACE CRATERING CHRONOLOGIES ON OTHER WORLDS. RETURNED LUNAR ROCKS TYPICALLY SAMPLE REGOLITH THAT HAS BEEN REWORKED BY BILLIONS OF YEARS OF IMPACTS. THE TRADITIONAL 40AR/39AR STEP HEATING METHOD USES SMALL AMOUNTS OF CRUSHED SAMPLE THAT NONETHELESS STILL CONTAIN DOMAINS OF VARYING PROVENANCE AS IT IS TYPICALLY NOT POSSIBLE TO ISOLATE REGIONS OF ONLY A SINGLE ROCK-FORMING AGE. RECENTLY IN SITU ANALYSIS ON LUNAR SAMPLES USING AN ION MICROPROBE OR LASERPROBE TO SPUTTER OR ABLATE TINY AMOUNTS OF SAMPLE DIRECTLY FROM THE SURFACE OF A POLISHED SECTION HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN. THESE STUDIES ACHIEVED UNPRECEDENTED PRECISION IN DOCUMENTING AGE TRENDS WITHIN INDIVIDUAL SAMPLES. FOR EXAMPLE MERCER ET AL. (2015) DETERMINED THAT APOLLO 17 SAMPLE 73217 CONTAINED 3 DISTINCT LITHOLOGIC DOMAINS AND DETERMINED TEXTURALLY CORRELATED AGE PEAKS AT 3.81 0.01 3.66 0.02 3.63 0.027 AND 3.273 0.02 GA. THIS ILLUSTRATES THE COMPLEXITY IN DETERMINING THE AGE OF A UNIQUE EVENT FROM A BRECCIA FORMED FROM MULTIPLE PROVENANCES. WHICH IF ANY OF THOSE AGES CAN BE DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE LHB OR ANY IMPACT EVENT? INDEED TO OUR KNOWLEDGE NO CLAIM OF CONCORDANCY AMONG MULTIPLE DATING SYSTEMS ON LUNAR MELT ROCKS HAS YET BEEN SUBSTANTIATED. AS A FIRST STEP TOWARDS TESTING THE LHB HYPOTHESIS WE PROPOSE TO DETERMINE U-PB FORMATION AGES OF ACCESSORY MINERALS IN THE SAME TEMPORALLY DEFINED REGIONS OF SAMPLES 73217 AND 77115 OF MERCER ET AL. (2015). THESE SAMPLES ARE IN OUR POSSESSION AND IN SITU ELEMENTAL MAPPING INDICATES THE PRESENCE OF NUMEROUS PHOSPHATE MINERALS AND ZIRCONS WHICH CAN BE U-PB DATED THIS INCLUDES BOTH SMALL NEOFORMED GRAINS WHICH APPEAR TO HAVE GROWN FROM THE IMPACT MELT AND FRACTURED RELICT CLASTS. U-PB FORMATION AGES OF ZIRCONS AND PHOSPHATE MINERALS WILL BE MEASURED IN THOSE PREVIOUSLY DEFINED REGIONS USING BOTH OUR CAMECA IMS1290 AND IMS1270 ION MICROPROBES. IF THE ACCESSORY MINERAL U-PB AGES MATCH THOSE PREVIOUSLY DETERMINED BY 40AR/39AR THIS WOULD PROVIDE CONFIDENCE THAT THEY DATE THE IMPACT EVENT THAT FORMED THAT PARTICULAR MELT DOMAIN. HOWEVER AGE DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE TWO DATING TECHNIQUES WOULD CALL INTO QUESTION THE EXTENT TO WHICH ANY SPECIFIC MEASUREMENT RELATES TO A SPECIFIC IMPACT. FOLLOWING THIS INITIAL STUDY THE RESEARCH WILL BE EXPANDED TO OTHER WELL CHARACTERIZED SAMPLES. PROF. KIP HODGES AND COLLEAGUES HAVE NINE ADDITIONAL LUNAR HIGHLAND MELT SAMPLES ON WHICH THEY ARE UNDERTAKING IN SITU 40AR/39AR ANALYSES THAT THEY WILL PROVIDE US. THESE ELEVEN SAMPLES SHOULD PROVIDE A CLEAR PICTURE OF WHETHER CONCORDANCY EXISTS BETWEEN DIFFERENT ISOTOPIC SYSTEMS IN A TEXTURALLY-CLEAR PETROGENETIC SETTING. IF SO THIS APPROACH CAN THEN BE EXTENDED TO A WIDER VARIETY OF LUNAR MELT ROCKS POTENTIALLY PERMITTING FORMATION AGES OF BRECCIAS TO BE DETERMINED AND REFINEMENTS TO BE MADE TO THE LHB HYPOTHESIS. IF NOT THEN THIS WOULD SERIOUSLY CHALLENGE THE FOUNDATION OF THE LHB HYPOTHESIS. | 2020-09-01 → 2023-08-31 | $39K |
| 80NSSC25K7684 | THE ROSES FUNDING OPPORTUNITY GOALS ARE: 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. | 2025-04-01 → 2026-03-19 | $30K |