The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $94,463 - Thursday the 27th of July 2017
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  IN OCTOBER, 2008, A SMALL ASTEROID WITH AN F-TYPE REFLECTANCE SPECTRUM, 2008 TC3, EXPLODED OVER THE NUBIAN DESERT AND DEPOSITED MATERIAL IN A STREWN FIELD IN NORTHERN SUDAN. SEARCHES TO-DATE HAVE LED TO COLLECTION OF>600 STONES THOUGHT TO BE DERIVED FROM 2008 TC3. THESE MATERIALS ARE NAMED ALMAHATA SITTA (AHS), AND REPRESENT THE FIRST RECOVERED METEORITE FROM A SPECTRALLY OBSERVED ASTEROID. THE DISCOVERY, TRACKING, SPECTRAL ANALYSIS AND RECOVERY OF MATERIAL FROM 2008 TC3/AHS WAS A REMARKABLE SERIES OF EVENTS, AND A TESTAMENT TO THE BENEFITS OF CROSS-DISCIPLINARY AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION. BUT THE LIST OF REMARKABLE THINGS ABOUT THIS OBJECT DOES NOT END THERE. THE FIRST AHS SAMPLES STUDIED SHOWED AN ANOMALOUS TYPE OF MATERIAL BELONGING TO THE CLASS OF UREILITE METERORITES. UREILITES ARE ONE OF THE LEAST UNDERSTOOD CLASSES OF PRIMITIVE ACHONDRITES, AND ARGUABLY ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM PROCESSES THAT BRIDGE THE CHONDRITE-TO-ACHONDRITE TRANSITION. THUS, THE ADVENT OF A NEW TYPE OF UREILITE, POTENTIALLY PROVIDING NEW INFORMATION IN THE FORM OF FRESH, UNWEATHERED MATERIAL, IS CERTAINLY WELCOME. ENSUING STUDIES OF MORE SAMPLES SHOWED A GREAT DIVERSITY OF UREILITE MATERIALS, LEADING TO CLASSIFICATION OF AHS AS AN ANOMALOUS POLYMICT UREILITE. EVEN MORE REMARKABLY, HOWEVER, ~20-30% OF THE RECOVERED CLASTS WERE FOUND TO BE NON-UREILITIC, INSTEAD REPRESENTING A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT CHONDRITE TYPES. THUS, 2008 TC3/AHS APPEARS TO BE A NEW TYPE OF BRECCIA, UNLIKE ANY METEORITE KNOWN TO DATE. NEVERTHELESS, THERE ARE STRONG INDICATIONS THAT 2008 TC3/AHS, "NORMAL" POLYMICT UREILITES, AND MAIN GROUP UREILITES SHARE A COMMON LINEAGE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE IMMEDIATE PARENT OF 2008 TC3/AHS WAS ALSO THE IMMEDIATE PARENT OF ALL UREILITIC MATERIAL THAT HAS BEEN SAMPLED IN RECENT TIMES BY METEORITES ON EARTH, AND THAT USING 2008 TC3/AHS AS A STARTING POINT, WE CAN TRACE THE HISTORY OF THIS MATERIAL BACK THROUGH MANY STAGES OF SOLAR SYSTEM HISTORY TO ACCRETION OF THE ORIGINAL UREILITE PARENT BODY. THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO BRING OUR COMBINED EXPERTISE IN UREILITE PETROLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY, ACCRETION MODELING, ASTEROID DYNAMICS, AND CRATERING AND REGOLITH EVOLUTION TO BEAR ON 4 MAJOR STAGES IN THE HISTORY OF UREILITIC MATERIAL IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM: 1) ACCRETION AND EARLY DIFFERENTIATION; 2) PARENT BODY BREAKUP AND FORMATION OF OFFSPRING BODIES; 3) DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF UREILITIC ASTEROIDS; AND 4) DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPLEX REGOLITH ON THE 2008 TC3 PARENT.

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• $93,000 - Thursday the 25th of June 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  DURING THE PAST TWO DECADES, I HAVE DEVELOPED TECHNIQUES FOR COMBINING STEREOGRAPHY AND STEREO-PHOTOCLINOMETRY TO CREATE HIGH-RESOLUTION DIGITAL TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS FROM IMAGING DATA. I HAVE USED THESE METHODS TO CONSTRUCT SHAPE AND TOPOGRAPHY MODELS FOR PHOBOS, EROS AND, AS A MEMBER OF THE HAYABUSA SCIENCE TEAM, THE ASTEROID ITOKAWA. I AM CURRENTLY USING MARINER 10 DATA TO CONSTRUCT THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE KNOWN PORTIONS OF MERCURY. MY SOFTWARE DETERMINES THE TOPOGRAPHY AND RELATIVE ALBEDO VARIATIONS FOR SMALL LANDMARK MAPS (L-MAPS) WHOSE CENTERS ARE USED AS CONTROL POINTS ON THE BODY. THE CENTRAL VECTORS ARE DETERMINED IN AN ESTIMATION PROCESS WHICH FITS THEIR LOCATIONS IN MULTIPLE IMAGES, OFFSETS FROM NEIGHBORING MAP VECTORS DETERMINED FROM MUTUAL TOPOGRAPHY IN THE OVERLAP REGIONS, AND THEIR LIMB POSITIONS IN OTHER IMAGES. SINCE EACH MAP REPRESENTS ABOUT 10,000 SURFACE POINTS RIGIDLY TIED TO THE CONTROL POINT, THE 2500 MAPS TILING MERCURY SO FAR REPRESENT ABOUT 25 MILLION SURFACE VECTORS. ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED AS A NAVAGATION TOOL, THE SOFTWARE ALSO DETERMINES THE SPACECRAFT POSITION AND ORIENTATION FROM THE ENSEMBLE OF LANDMARKS IN A GIVEN IMAGE. WITH ADDITIONAL APRIORI INFORMATION FROM RADIOMETRIC AND DYNAMICAL DATA INCLUDED, THE SOLUTION IS THE MOST ACCURATE AVAILABLE. DURING THE ITOKAWA ENCOUNTER, LASER RANGING WAS ADDED AS A DATA TYPE. THIS TECHNOLOGY IS STILL EVOLVING, WITH WORK UNDER WAY TO USE IMAGING AND NLR DATA TO IMPROVE BOTH THE KNOWLEGE OF EROS'S TOPOGRAPHY AND THE NEAR SPACECRAFT EPHEMERIS. I AM PROPOSING TO JOIN THE MESSENGER GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS GROUPS IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE TOPOGRAPHY OF MERCURY FROM MDIS DATA. THE FUNDAMENTAL DATA PRODUCT WILL BE THE ENSEMBLE OF L-MAPS, WHICH CAN BE USED TO CONSTRUCT AN ACCURATE GLOBAL MODEL, AS WELL AS HIGH-RESOLUTION REGIONAL MAPS. THE PRECISE DETERMINATION OF TOPOGRAPHY AND OVERALL SHAPE, ON A SCALE COMPARABLE TO THE HIGHEST RESOLUTION OF THE IMAGES, WILL BE USED CONSTRAIN THE ACTIVE AND HISTORICAL GEOLOGIC PROCESSES ON MERCURY. IN ADDITION, I HOPE TO COLLABORATE WITH MEMBERS OF THE RADIO SCIENCE AND MERCURY LASER ALTIMETER GROUPS TO IMPROVE BOTH THE SPACECRAFT EPHEMERIS AND LANDMARK LOCATIONS. THIS WOULD BE OF GREAT VALUE IN THE GRAVITATIONAL HARMONIC ANALYSIS AND IN THE DETERMINATION OF MERCURY'S ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS, ESPECIALLY FOR DETERMINING THE AMPLITUDE OF ITS PHYSICAL LIBRATION. MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE HAYABUSA MISSION SHOWED THAT SUCH A COLLABORATION COULD PROVE INVALUABLE, INCREASING THE SCIENTIFIC OUTPUT FROM BOTH INSTRUMENTS. CONTROL POINT UNCERTAINTIES ON ITOKAWA WERE ABOUT 20 CENTIMETERS RMS, THE SPACECRAFT POSITION WAS DETERMINED TO ABOUT 1.5 METERS, AND THE LIDAR FOOTPRINT WAS LOCATED TO LESS THAN A METER ON THE SURFACE.

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• $93,000 - Thursday the 9th of April 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  SUMMARY: THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO CHARACTERIZE THE NATURE AND TIMING OF GEOLOGIC PROCESSES THAT HAVE SHAPED THE SURFACE OF VENUS, WITH SPECIFIC FOCUS ON THE RELATIVELY YOUNG REGION KNOWN AS THE BETA-ATLA-THEMIS (BAT) PROVINCE (AN AREA COVERING ALMOST 20% OF THE PLANET). THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH TWO PRIMARY GEOLOGIC MAPPING TASKS AND FOLLOW-ON COMPARISONS OF THESE RESULTS WITH GEOPHYSICAL AND CONCEPTUAL MODELS REGARDING THE CONTEMPORARY STATE OF THE VENUSIAN LITHOSPHERE. SPECIFIC GOALS INCLUDE: 1) DETERMINATION OF THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN SEVERAL HUNDRED VOLCANIC AND TECTONIC CENTERS TO ASSESS THEIR POTENTIAL CONTEMPORARY ACTIVITY, 2) COMPARISON OF GEOLOGIC RELATIONS FROM WITHIN THE BAT REGION TO THOSE AREAS OUTSIDE THE BAT TO ADDRESS THE NATURE OF THE BAT PROVINCE TRANSITION, AND 3) TO TEST THE PSEUDO-CORONA HYPOTHESIS AND EVALUATE THE AFFECT DIFFERENT CRUSTAL PROVINCES HAVE ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF CHASMATA. TWO END PRODUCTS, A 1:5 MILLION-SCALE GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE DEVANA CHASMA (V29) QUADRANGLE AND A 1:10 MILLION-SCALE MAP OF GUINEVERE PLANITIA (I-2457) WILL BE SUBMITTED TO, REVIEWED BY, AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF THE US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY'S VENUS GEOLOGIC MAPPING PROGRAM. THIS WORK DIRECTLY EMPLOYS NASA MAGELLAN DATA AND IS RELEVANT TO CURRENT GOALS OF NASA AND THE PLANETARY GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS PROGRAM: "UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS." ANALYSES WILL FURTHER OUR ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TECTONIC REGIMES OF EARTH AND VENUS. THE RESULTING PRODUCTS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PLANETARY COMMUNITY, AND THE OVERLYING THEMES AND QUESTIONS MAY ULTIMATELY GUIDE FUTURE MISSIONS TO OUR "SISTER" PLANET.

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• $79,185 - Wednesday the 19th of August 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  IN THE PROPOSED WORK, WE WILL DERIVE REAL AND IMAGINARY REFRACTIVE INDICES (OPTICAL FUNCTIONS N AND K) FROM THE LABORATORY SPECTRAL LIBRARY OF MARS DUST ANALOG MINERALS CREATED IN SUPPORT OF THE 2016 EXOMARS TRACE GAS ORBITER MATMOS (MARS ATMOSPHERIC TRACE MOLECULE OCCULTATION SPECTROMETER) PROJECT. PRIOR TO OUR PROJECT, LABORATORY SPECTRA OF APPROXIMATELY 100 CANDIDATE MARS DUST PROXIES WILL BE MEASURED UNDER FUNDING FROM THE CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY (CSA), PRIMARILY TO PROVIDE A SPECTRAL LIBRARY FOR IR SOLAR OCCULTATION OBSERVATIONS AT 2.3-11.8 MICRON WAVELENGTHS, BUT ALSO COVERING 0.4-2.3 AND 11.8-25 MICRONS. RESEARCHERS IN THE U.S. MARS COMMUNITY HAVE REQUESTED THAT THOSE MEASUREMENTS BE CONVERTED TO OPTICAL FUNCTIONS TO EXPAND THEIR UTILITY FOR CALCULATING ABUNDANCES ON THE MARTIAN SURFACE. HOWEVER, THE CANADIAN LABORATORY EFFORT DOES NOT INCLUDE DERIVATION OF OPTICAL FUNCTIONS, WHICH ARE THE PRIMARY INPUTS TO THE RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODELS BEHIND QUANTIFYING MARS SURFACE ABUNDANCES. WE SEEK TO FILL THIS GAP BY DERIVING OPTICAL FUNCTIONS FOR A SUBSET OF THE CSA MARS DUST ANALOG SPECIES MOST COMPLEMENTARY TO OTHER FUNDED NASA EFFORTS.

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• $78,842 - Wednesday the 8th of April 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  IN THIS WORK, WE WILL RIGOROUSLY TEXT HYPOTHESES OF SULFATE MINERAL FORMATION ON MARS USING A COMBINATION OF DATASETS TO EVALUATE SPECIFIC CRITERIA RELEVANT TO EACH FORMATION MODEL. IN ADDITION TO PREVIOUS HYPOTHESES FOR FORMATION OF SULFATE-BEARING TERRAINS ON MARS, WE WILL ALSO TEST A NEW ONE WE HAVE RECENTLY PROPOSED. THE NEW HYPOTHESIS IS THIS: SULFATE-BEARING TERRAINS AT MERIDIANI PLANUM AND POSSIBLY ELSEWHERE, WERE CREATED BY PROXIMAL EOLIAN RE-WORKING OF A DUSTING SUBLIMATION RESIDUE THAT WAS CHEMICALLY WEATHERED WITHIN LOW-LATITUDE ICE DEPOSITS RELATED TO ANCIENT POLAR WANDER OR POSSIBLY OBLIQUITY EXCURSIONS. WE WILL TEST THIS MODEL AND THE OTHERS BY FIRST SPECTROSCOPICALLY MAPPING SULFATE DEPOSITS AT A GLOBAL SCALE, THEN PERFORMING DETAILED STUDIES OF THE EACH OF THE DEPOSITS TO REVEAL THEIR DETAILED MINERALOGY, THE RELATIONSHIP OF MINERALOGY TO STRATIGRAPHY, LITHOLOGY, EROSIONAL STYLE, PHYSICAL FORM OF THE DEPOSITS, SURFACE TEXTURES, AND REGIONAL GEOLOGIC CONTEXT. WE WILL LOOK FOR TRENDS BETWEEN DEPOSITS WITHIN THE SAME REGION AND WE WILL ATTEMPT TO MAKE LARGE SCALE REGIONAL OR GLOBAL-SCALE CORRELATIONS AND GENERALIZATIONS. WE WILL ALSO LINK THE OBSERVATIONS MADE FROM ORBIT TO DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRATIGRAPHY AND COMPOSITION OF LAYERED ROCKS EXPLORED BY THE OPPORTUNITY ROVER. TOGETHER, THIS DETAILED PICTURE BUILT THROUGH DATA FUSION AND OBSERVATION AT MULTIPLE SCALES WILL FAVOR ONE OF THE EXISTING MODELS OF SULFATE FORMATION ON MARS OR POINT US TO A NEW DIRECTION FOR INTERPRETING THESE COMPLEX, ENIGMATIC DEPOSITS.

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• $62,221 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  UNDERSTANDING THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF HYDRATED MINERALS IS ESSENTIAL FOR DECIPHERING THE AQUEOUS HISTORY OF MARS. DETECTIONS OF FE/MG SMECTITES REVEAL THAT THEY COMMONLY OCCUR STRATIGRAPHICALLY BELOW SULFATES. HOWEVER, IN A FEW LOCALITIES, THESE MINERAL GROUPS COEXIST, ARE INTERBEDDED, OR THE STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIP IS INVERTED. THESE DEPOSITS MAY REPRESENT ORIGINAL SEDIMENTARY BEDS OR THE ALTERATION OF PRE-EXISTING MATERIALS. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYLLOSILICATES AND SULFATES AND THEIR FORMATION THEREFORE WARRANT FURTHER INVESTIGATION. WE PROPOSE TO USE A COMBINATION OF LABORATORY ANALYSIS OF FIELD SAMPLES WITH REMOTE SENSING DATA TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPOSITIONAL VARIABILITY AND FORMATION PROCESSES IN A MARS ANALOG ACIDIC PLAYA ENVIRONMENT. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL INDEPENDENTLY ANALYZE AND INTERPRET ALREADY COLLECTED SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE SAMPLES AND COMPARE MINERALOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY TO REMOTE SPECTRAL MAPPING. THE DETAILED ANALYSIS WILL LEAD TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES THAT RESULT IN COMPOSITIONAL VARIABILITY IN THESE DEPOSITS. ADDITIONALLY, THE INTERPRETATIONS OF SUBSURFACE, SURFACE AND REMOTE SENSING DATA MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE IF FORMATION MECHANISMS CAN BE DETERMINED FROM REMOTE SENSING. THE MOST DIRECT BENEFIT OF THE PROPOSED WORK WILL BE AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESSES THAT CREATE GEOCHEMICAL VARIABILITY AND THE ABILITY TO DETECT AND INTERPRET SUCH SYSTEMS REMOTELY. ALTHOUGH SEVERAL GEOCHEMICAL AND SEDIMENTOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF ACIDIC SALINE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED, THERE IS A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THIS GROUND DATA IS REFLECTED REMOTELY. UNDERSTANDING HOW THE PROCESSES IN THESE ANALOG ENVIRONMENTS ARE EXPRESSED IN REMOTE SENSING DATA IS CRITICAL FOR THE ACCURATE INTERPRETATION OF MARTIAN DATASETS. THE PROPOSED WORK INVOLVES LABORATORY AND REMOTE SENSING INVESTIGATIONS OF A MARS ANALOG ENVIRONMENT AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ADD SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE EXISTING KNOWLEDGE OF ROLE OF WATER AND THE PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS DURING THE DEPOSITION OF MATERIALS THAT ARE THOUGHT TO EXPOSE THE TRANSITION FROM NEUTRAL PH AQUEOUS ALTERATION IN THE NOACHIAN TO AN ACIDIC EVAPORITIC SYSTEM IN THE LATE NOACHIAN TO THE HESPERIAN. UNDERSTANDING THE FORMATION OF SULFATES AND PHYLLOSILICATES ON MARS HELPS SATISFY A NUMBER OF NASA MARS EXPLORATION PROGRAM GOALS, INCLUDING UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF AQUEOUS PROCESSES THROUGHOUT MARTIAN HISTORY.

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• $57,388 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE WORK PLAN BELOW FOCUSES ONLY ON MAGNETIC FIELD ANALYSES. AS SEEN ABOVE, I HAVE ALREADY CONTRIBUTED EXTENSIVELY TO OTHER INVESTIGATIONS BY THE GEOPHYSICS DISCIPLINE GROUP AND I EXPECT THIS CONTINUE DURING THE ORBITAL PHASE. TO DATE THOSE KINDS OF INVESTIGATIONS, DISCUSSIONS, MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION HAVE COMPRISED AN ADDITIONAL ~20% OF WORK EFFORT. FY11 (DEC 30, 2010 DEC 29, 2011): FOCUS - TASKS 3 AND 4 . (PI EFFORT 3MOS.) 1. DEVELOPMENT OF TOOLS FOR MODELING EXTERNAL FIELDS (SEE A-C ABOVE). 2. SET UP THE TOOLS TO DO ROUTINE PASS-BY-PASS ANALYSIS OF THE IMF ENVIRONMENT, BEFORE AND AFTER THE TRANSIT THROUGH THE MAGNETOSPHERE. THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING LIKELY VARIABILITY DURING MESSENGER S TIME INSIDE THE MAGNETOSPHERE, E.G., MEAN DIRECTION, STRENGTH, VARIABILITY, POWER SPECTRUM. WE CAN SET UP THESE TOOLS NOW USING THE MAG DATA COLLECTED DURING CRUISE.SET UP TOOLS TO ROUTINELY PRODUCE MAGNETIC FIELD DATA FIGURES THAT CAN BE USED BY OTHER TEAM MEMBERS (E.G., VECTOR MAGNETIC FIELD PLOTS). WE WILL PRODUCE MAPS OF BINNED MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVATIONS (AT SPACECRAFT ALTITUDE) FOR USE BY THE SCIENCE TEAMS. 4. INITIAL INVESTIGATIONS OF ORBITAL DATA: SCIENCE PRIORITIES (MAG): A. LOOK FOR SECULAR VARIATION BETWEEN 1974 AND THE PRESENT BY COMPARING M10 III WITH A MM ORBITAL PASS WITH SIMILAR MERCURY BODY-FIXED LOCATION AND ALTITUDE, AFTER CORRECTING FOR THE EXTERNAL MAGNETIC FIELDS ORIGINATING AT THE MAGNETOPAUSE AND TAIL, FOR A SPECIFIED IMF ORIENTATION AND STRENGTH. B. DIPOLE FIELD AND LONG-WAVELENGTH CORE FIELDS: LOOK FOR LOCATION OF 'NORTH' POLE AND LARGESCALE FIELDS OF CORE ORIGIN. HOW CLOSE IS THE POLE TO THE SPIN AXIS? HOW LARGE IS THE AXIAL QUADRUPOLE TERM (DIPOLE OFFSET)? C. SPECTRAL ANALYSES ON AN ORBIT-BY-ORBIT BASIS TO INVESTIGATE EXTERNAL / INTERNAL FIELD CONTRIBUTIONS, NOISE, AND RESOLUTION. D. LOOK FOR EVIDENCE OF LONG-WAVELENGTH AND SHORT-WAVELENGTH CRUSTAL FIELDS. ALL INVESTIGATIONS WILL INCLUDE GEOPHYSICAL INTERPRETATION TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND HOW MERCURY S MAGNETIC FIELD IS GENERATED (TESTING FOR DIFFERENT SUITES OF DYNAMO MODELS), AND ITS HISTORY VIA INVESTIGATIONS OF CRUSTAL FIELDS AND COMPARISONS WITH IMAGING AND MLA DATA. FY12: (DEC 30, 2011 DEC 29, 2012): FOCUS - TASK 4 (PI EFFORT 3MOS.) INTERIM AND FINAL FIELD MODELS PRODUCED THROUGHOUT THE INVESTIGATIONS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE SCIENCE TEAMS; FINAL VERSIONS WILL BE RELEASED PUBLICLY, DOCUMENTED IN PEER-REVIEWED LITERATURE, AND CAN BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PDS. 1. PRODUCTION OF LONG-WAVELENGTH INTERNAL MAGNETIC FIELD MODEL USING GLOBAL DATA COVERAGE DURING QUIET TIMES (I.E. LOW IMF VARIABILITY). 2. IN PARALLEL, PRODUCTION OF AN EMPIRICALLY-DERIVED MODEL FOR MERCURY S LARGE-SCALE MAGNETOSPHERIC FIELDS. THIS WILL INVOLVE CLOSE COLLABORATIONS WITH THOSE MAKING MAGNETOSPHERIC MODELS TO COMPARE PREDICTED AND EMPIRICALLY-DETERMINED EXTERNAL FIELDS AND CURRENT SYSTEMS. 3. CONTINUE INVESTIGATION OF CRUSTAL MAGNETIC FIELDS LOOK FOR SMALL-SCALE AND LARGE SCALE FIELDS USING E.G., EQUIVALENT DIPOLE SOURCE TECHNIQUES AND SPECTRAL TESTS. CRUSTAL FIELDS WILL LIKELY BE WEAK. HOWEVER, THEIR TIME-INVARIANT SIGNATURE SHOULD ALLOW THEM TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM EXTERNAL FIELDS WITH REPEAT PASS DATA. 4. START TO BUILD TIME-VARYING FIELD MODELS TO LOOK FOR SECULAR VARIATION (USING THE TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED IN MY ORIGINAL PROPOSAL). FY13: (DEC 30, 2012 MARCH 31, 2013): FOCUS TASKS 4 AND 5 (FY13: (DEC 30, 2012 MARCH 31, 2013): FOCUS TASKS 4 AND 5 (PI EFFORT 1MO, CONTRIBUTED). THE WORK PLAN FOR THIS YEAR WILL OF COURSE DEPEND ON DISCOVERIES TO DATE. THE HOPE IS THAT DURING THIS YEAR WE WILL BE IN AN EXTENDED MISSION PHASE, WITH AN ORBITAL GEOMETRY THAT IS MORE FAVORABLE TO GRAVITY AND MAGNETIC FIELD INVESTIGATIONS (SPECIFICALLY, MORE TIME SPENT AT LOWER SPACECRAFT ALTITUDES). IF THIS IS THE CASE, WE ANTICIPATE SIGNIFICANT NEW DISCOVERIES FOR INTERNAL FIELDS, IN PARTICULAR REGARDING THE PRESENCE/ABSENCE OF CRUSTAL FIELDS THAT WILL BE

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• $55,476 - Friday the 5th of February 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  IN THE FRAME OF THIS PROPOSAL WE PLAN TO MODEL HIGH-VELOCITY OBLIQUE IMPACTS ONTO THE MOON - FROM ANCIENT BASIN-FORMING COLLISIONS TO RECENT EVENTS DELIVERING LUNAR METEORITES (AND PROBABLY 3HE-RICH LUNAR DUST) TO THE EARTH. THE 3D SOVA HYDROCODE (TESTED AND VALIDATED AGAINST OTHER IMPACT HYDROCODES) IS THE MAIN TOOL FOR THIS STUDY. THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THESE NUMERICAL MODELS IS TO REPRODUCE IMPACT EJECTA DISTRIBUTION ON THE SURFACE (AND BEYOND), ITS SHOCK COMPRESSION LEVEL, EXCAVATION DEPTH, ETC. ANTIPODAL EFFECTS CAUSED BY CONVERGENT EJECTA WILL BE COMPARED WITH THOSE CAUSED BY SEISMIC WAVES. SPALLATION PROCESS IN A REGOLITH-COVERED TARGET WILL BE COMPARED WITH SPALLATION IN INTACT ROCKS TO ESTIMATE THE EFFICIENCY OF LUNAR METEORITES EJECTION. WE WILL TRACE ESCAPE ROCKS/SOIL TO THEIR FINAL DESTINATION ON THE EARTH TO ANALYZE ATMOSPHERIC HEATING AND DE-GASSING OF LUNAR SAMPLES. THEN WE WILL INCORPORATE THE RESULTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL CRATERING EVENT INTO THE INTENSIVE MONTE-CARLO SCHEME FOR MULTIPLE PROCESSES THROUGHOUT THE MOON'S HISTORY TO ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: WHAT MATERIALS ARE MOSTLY PRESENTED ON THE LUNAR SURFACE AND HAVE BEEN SAMPLED, WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF CONTAMINATION OF YOUNG SURFACES BY SECONDARY CRATERS, WHAT HAPPENED TO 'OLD' IMPACT MELT ROCKS, IS THE LHB AN ACTUAL SPIKE IN IMPACT RATE OR AN INFLECTION IN MONOTONICALLY DECLINING POST-ACCRETIONARY FLUX?

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• $55,000 - Tuesday the 12th of May 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE PROPOSED 3-YEAR RESEARCH WILL USE MEASUREMENTS BY THE GAMMA RAY AND NEUTRON DETECTOR (GRAND) INSTRUMENT ON THE DAWN SPACECRAFT WHILE IN POLAR ORBIT AT THE ASTEROID 4 VESTA TO HELP THE GRAND TEAM OBTAIN HIGH-QUALITY CONCENTRATION MAPS OF AS MANY ELEMENTS AS POSSIBLE. ELEMENTS DETERMINED WILL INCLUDE SI, FE, K, TH, 0, AND POSSIBLY TI, MG, AI, CA, AND H. GRAND, ONE OF ONLY 3 INSTRUMENTS ON DAWN, HAS THE KEY ROLE OF DETERMINING ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES, ESPECIALLY THE RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS THAT ARE MAJOR HEAT SOURCES EARLY IN VESTA'S HISTORY. THOSE NUCLEAR RADIATIONS ARE IDEAL FOR MAPPING THE DISTRIBUTION AND CONCENTRATION OF MANY IMPORTANT ELEMENTS IN THE TOP TENS OF CENTIMETERS OF THE SURFACE. THESE RESULTS WILL COMPLEMENT MINERALOGY DETERMINED BY DAWN'S VIR INSTRUMENT. TOGETHER, THE GRAND AND VIR TEAMS WILL PRODUCE THE BEST COMPOSITIONAL MAPS OF VESTA. ONE KEY TASK FOR THE FIRST YEAR WILL BE ADVANCED MODELING OF THE GAMMA-RAY AND NEUTRON FLUXES EXPECTED FROM VESTA USING THE PROPOSER'S LATEST EVALUATED CROSS SECTIONS AND CURRENT CODES, SOME DEVELOPED BY THE PROPOSER. THESE CALCULATED FLUXES ARE NEEDED TO CHECK EXISTING CALCULATIONS THAT ARE NEED TO PLAN FOR THE MISSION AT VESTA AND TO ACCURATELY CONVERT THE GRAND MEASUREMENTS INTO ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES. WORK WILL BE DONE TO HELP TO UNDERSTAND WELL THE GRAND SENSORS TO PREPARE FOR CORRECTING AND INTERPRETING DATA COLLECTED AT VESTA, INCLUDING ACCURATE DETERMINATION OF BACKGROUNDS AND THEIR SOURCES. THE PROPOSER WILL ACTIVELY WORK WITH THE SCIENCE TEAM IN PLANNING FOR AND OPERATING IN ORBIT AROUND VESTA. HIS EXPERIENCE ON PREVIOUS ELEMENTAL MAPPING MISSIONS, SUCH AS NEAR AT 433IEROS, WILL HELP TO GET GOOD GRAND DATA AT VESTA AND IN VERY RAPIDLY GETTING GOOD ELEMENTAL RESULTS FROM THOSE DATA. THE WORK IN THE LAST YEAR WILL BE THE FINAL ACCURATE ANALYSES AND INTERPRETATION OF THE MEASURED SPECTRA TO GET HIGH-QUALITY ELEMENTAL RESULTS AND THE REPORTING AND ARCHIVING OF THOSE FINAL RESULTS. THIS WORK WILL BE DONE IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH THE DAWN AND GRAND TEAMS, ESPECIALLY THE CURRENT GRAND TEAM MEMBERS T. H. PRETTYMAN AND W. C. FELDMAN, WITH WHOM THE PROPOSER HAS WORKED CLOSELY FOR DECADES. THE PROPOSER BRINGS TO THIS WORK THE SPECIAL EXPERTISE NOTED IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THIS PROGRAM, NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPY, AN AREA IN WHICH THE PROPOSER HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE BOTH IN THE LABORATORY AND ON PLANETARY MISSIONS. HE HAS CONSIDERABLE EXPERIENCE IN THE APPLICATIONS OF NUCLEAR TECHNIQUES TO MANY LUNAR AND PLANETARY MISSIONS (E.G., APOLLO, NEAR, MARS ODYSSEY, AND KAGUYA) OVER THE LAST 4 DECADES. HIS EXPERIENCE COMPLEMENTS WELL THOSE OF OTHERS ON THE GRAND TEAM. HE HAS ALSO WORKED ON DETAILED EXPERIMENTAL SIMULATIONS OF PLANETARY GAMMA-RAY AND NEUTRON SPECTROSCOPY. HE HAS LARGE DATABASES OF THE NUCLEAR SCIENCE NEEDED FOR SUCH AN INVESTIGATION THAT HE HAS COLLECTED FROM THE LITERATURE AND FROM HIS WORK ON SIMULATIONS AND EARLIER PLANETARY MISSIONS.

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• $50,000 - Thursday the 21st of May 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE NORTH POLAR SAND SEAS (NPSS) ON MARS REPRESENT A MAJOR ACCUMULATION OF WINDBLOWN SEDIMENT THAT POTENTIALLY PRESERVES A RICH GEOLOGICAL RECORD OF ARID AND WINDY PHASES IN THE MARTIAN PALEO-CLIMATE. THEIR LOCATION AT THE NORTH POLE MAKES THEM LIKELY TO BE ESPECIALLY SENSITIVE TO PAST VARIATIONS IN OBLIQUITY. WE PROPOSE TO USE SATELLITE DATA RELEASED BY RECENT NASA MISSIONS TO DETERMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS AND EVOLUTION OF THE NPSS. SAND SEAS SHOW A PATTERNING OF DUNE TYPES, DUNE SIZE AND SPACING. THESE ATTRIBUTES CAN BE USED TO INFER THE WIND AND SEDIMENT REGIMES AND THE SEQUENCE OF CONSTRUCTIONAL EVENTS. INDIVIDUAL DUNE FORMS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED DEPOSITS CAN BE USED TO INFER LOCAL (RECENT) WIND AND SEDIMENT REGIMES. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL MAP DUNE FORM AND DUNE PATTERN PARAMETERS AT 18 STUDY SITES IN THE NPSS, AN AREA OF 73,000 KM^2, IN ORDER TO CHARACTERIZE THE DUNEFIELD VARIABILITY AND IDENTIFY DISCRETE LOCATIONS OF SAND SEA FORMATION. WE WILL USE CRATER RETENTION AGE ESTIMATES AND PATTERN DATING TECHNIQUES TO DETERMINE THE ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE AGES OF SAND SEA FORMATION. DUNE CRESTLINE MAPS WILL BE CONVERTED TO WIND DIRECTION MAPS THROUGH DETAILED MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF DUNE FORM AND CRESTLINE ORIENTATION. FOR MORE RECENT AEOLIAN ACTIVITY WE WILL LOOK FOR CHANGE IN DUNE SAND STREAK ORIENTATION AND CHANGES IN DUNE FORM OVER THE PAST ~10 YEARS. WE WILL ALSO USE EVIDENCE AND THERMAL INERTIA MAPPING TO SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE OF DUNE STABILIZATION (SEDIMENT CEMENTATION). EVOLUTIONARY MODELING WILL TEST HYPOTHESES OF ICE ENTRAINMENT IN MARTIAN DUNES. THESE COMBINED ANALYSES WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LANDFORM EVOLUTION ON MARS, THEREBY FULFILLING THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE IN NASA'S MARS EXPLORATION PROGRAM: TO UNDERSTAND THE PLANET'S GEOLOGY AND TO SEARCH FOR PAST AND PRESENT LIFE AND LIFE ENVIRONMENTS, SPECIFICALLY GOAL III, OBJECTIVE A: TO DETERMINE THE NATURE AND SEQUENCES OF THE VARIOUS GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES THAT HAVE CREATED AND MODIFIED THE MARTIAN SURFACE.

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