The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $92,693 - Wednesday the 16th of November 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE RESIDUAL SOUTH POLAR CAP OF MARS (RSPC) CONSISTS MOSTLY OF SOLID CARBON DIOXIDE THAT IS ABLE TO AVOID SUBLIMATION IN SUMMER DUE TO ITS UNUSUALLY HIGH ALBEDO. THE RSPC IS NOT AN IMMUTABLE FEATURE OF THE MARTIAN LANDSCAPE. COMPARISON OF IMAGES ACQUIRED BY MARINER 9 AND VIKING SHOWED SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE CONFIGURATION OF FROST DEPOSITS IN THE RSPC. HIGH RESOLUTION MAGES ACQUIRED BY THE MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR (MGS) MISSION REVEALED THAT THE SOLID CO2 SURFACE IS COVERED BY COMPLEX PITS AND GROOVES THAT EXPANDED DURING THE FOUR MARS YEARS (MYS) OF MGS OBSERVATIONS SUGGESTING THAT THE SOLID CO2 WAS ERODING AWAY AND COULD DISAPPEAR IN A FEW YEARS. MORE RECENTLY, ANALYSIS OF MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (MRO) IMAGES INDICATED THAT VARIATIONS IN ATMOSPHERIC DUST PRODUCED CHANGES IN THE CAP FROM MY 28 TO 29 AND MAY HAVE CAUSED THE MARINER 9 / VIKING DIFFERENCES. THE GOALS OF THE PROPOSED WORK ARE TO IDENTIFY AND UNDERSTAND PROCESSES THAT ARE CURRENTLY AFFECTING THE AMOUNT AND DISTRIBUTION OF CO2 IN THE RSPC AND TO DETERMINE ITS PAST AND FUTURE HISTORIES USING DATA FROM THE MRO MISSION. THERE ARE SIX SPECIFIC ELEMENTS OR TASKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GOALS: DETERMINING THE APPARENT (TOP OF THE ATMOSPHERE) ALBEDO HISTORY OF THE RSPC IN MY 28 AND 29 BASED UPON MARCI (MARS COLOR IMAGER) DATA; STUDYING THE BEHAVIORS AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITIES OF SMALL REGIONS WITHIN THE RSPC USING CTX (CONTEXT CAMERA) IMAGES; USING CRISM (COMPACT RECONNAISSANCE IMAGING SPECTROMETER) EPF SEQUENCES WITHIN THE POLAR REGION TO DETERMINE THE OPTICAL DEPTH HISTORIES OF THE RSPC REGION IN MY 28 AND 29; USING THIS OPTICAL DEPTH HISTORY TO CORRECT THE RSPC ALBEDOS FOR ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN ORDER TO DETERMINE SURFACE ALBEDOS; COMPUTING THE NET LOSS OF CO2 (KG M-2) FROM THE SURFACE USING AN ESTABLISHED MONTE CARLO RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODEL; AND ANALYZING MARCI IMAGES TO STUDY THE DEVIATIONS OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SURFACE FROM A PERFECT LAMBERT REFLECTOR.

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• $57,456 - Wednesday the 31st of August 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  ROCKS MAKING UP THE NOACHIAN AND HESPERIAN AGED CRUST OF MARS INCLUDE NUMEROUS LAYERED DEPOSITS WITH PHYLLOSILICATES, HYDRATED SILICA, AND/OR SULFATES. BASALTIC GLASS CAN BE AN IMPORTANT STARTING MATERIAL FOR MANY OF THESE MINERALS SINCE ITS ALTERATION LEADS TO THE FORMATION OF HYDRATED SECONDARY MINERALS. HOWEVER THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF IMPACT VERSUS VOLCANIC PROCESSES FOR THE FORMATION OF BASALTIC GLASS IS POORLY CONSTRAINED. IN THIS INVESTIGATION, WE WILL USE METHODS ANALOGOUS TO THOSE USED BY INSTRUMENTS ON CURRENT AND FUTURE MARS ROVER MISSIONS TO EXAMINE VOLCANICLASTIC AND IMPACT DERIVED MATERIALS TO DETERMINE THE BEST MEANS OF DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THEM. METHODS OF INVESTIGATION WILL INCLUDE VISIBLE AND NEAR INFRARED REFLECTANCE, THERMAL INFRARED EMISSIVITY, AND MOSSBAUER SPECTROSCOPY. ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS ON THE LABORATORY AND MICRO-SCALE WILL INCLUDE XRD, SEM-EDS, AND ANALYSIS WITH A MICRO-RAMAN AND MICRO-FTIR SYSTEM. AN IMPORTANT MODE OF ORIGIN FOR GLASSY TEPHRAS ON EARTH IS THROUGH WATER-MAGMA INTERACTIONS. THUS ADDITIONAL OBJECTIVES OF THIS INVESTIGATION WILL BE ON THE CHARACTERIZATION OF HYDROVOLCANIC MATERIALS, SEEKING TO CHARACTERIZE: 1) THE TYPES OF EARLY ALTERATION PRODUCTS ASSOCIATED WITH THEM, 2) DIFFERENCES IN MINERALOGY AND CHEMISTRY ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT MODES OF WET VERSUS DRY EMPLACEMENT, 3) HOW ANALOGOUS THESE MATERIALS ARE TO CLASTIC ROCKS EXAMINED IN THE COLUMBIA HILLS BY SPIRIT, ESPECIALLY TO THE LAYERED ROCKS AT HOME PLATE, AND 4) HOW WELL MULTISPECTRAL DATA CAN BE USED AS A PROXY FOR M SSBAUER SPECTROMETRY TO GAUGE THE OXIDATION OF ALTERED BASALTIC TEPHRAS.

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• $143,781 - Tuesday the 13th of September 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  BEYOND ITS POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR EXOBIOLOGY, THE IDENTIFICATION OF METHANE AS A DISEQUILIBRIUM CONSTITUENT OF THE CURRENT MARS ATMOSPHERE PLACES EXTRAORDINARY REQUIREMENTS FOR AS YET UNIDENTIFIED PROCESSES OF ATMOSPHERIC CATALYTIC PHOTOCHEMISTRY. IN PARTICULAR, THE OBSERVED TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL VARIABILITIES OF METHANE ABUNDANCE (MUMMA ET AL., 2008) REQUIRE ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE INCREASES IN METHANE DESTRUCTION RATES IN A FASHION THAT DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE OBSERVED ABUNDANCES OF PHOTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS SUCH AS OZONE, CO, AND H02 (E.G., LEFEVRE AND FORGET, 2009). THERE ARE, IN FACT, SUGGESTIONS THAT THE KEY HOX FAMILY OF CATALYTIC RADICALS IS IMPACTED BY HETEROGENEOUS REACTIONS ON MARS ICE CLOUDS (E.G., LEFEVRE ET AL., 2007). OBSERVATIONS OF MARS OZONE COLUMN ABUNDANCES (E.G., PERRIER ET AL., 2006; FAST ET AL., 2006) HAVE PROVIDED MUCH OF THE BASIS FOR ASSESSING SUCH PROCESSES. HOWEVER, OZONE COLUMN ABUNDANCES ARE OFTEN DOMINATED BY LARGE OZONE DENSITIES IN THE LOWER ATMOSPHERIC SCALE HEIGHT (ALTITUDES BELOW 10 KM), WHEREAS MARS WATER ICE CLOUDS ARE MORE TYPICALLY RESTRICTED TO ALTITUDES ABOVE 10-20 KM. OBSERVATIONS OF MARS 1.27 MICRON EMISSION BY ELECTRONICALLY EXCITED 02 (02 SINGLET DELTA) - E.G., KRASNOPOLSKY, 2003; FEDOROVA ET AL., 2006), ASSOCIATED WITH OZONE PHOTOLYSIS, PROVIDE A MEASURE OF OZONE DENSITIES ABOVE -20 KM ALTITUDES THAT MAY BE MORE DIRECTLY COMPARED TO HETEROGENEOUS PHOTOCHEMICAL PREDICTIONS. WE PROPOSE AN ANALYSIS OF MRO (MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER) CRISM (COMPACT RECONNAISSANCE IMAGING SPECTROMETER FOR MARS) OBSERVATIONS OF 02 SINGLET DELTA EMISSION, AS MAPPED GLOBALLY OVER MARS SINCE LATE 2006. 02 SINGLET DELTA VOLUME EMISSION RATES WILL BE DETERMINED FROM THE OBSERVED CRISM 1.27 MICRON BAND INTEGRATED RADIANCES AND COMPARED TO PREDICTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH MARS GLOBAL CIRCULATION MODEL (MGCM) SIMULATED OZONE VERTICAL PROFILES. AN MRO GLOBAL MAPPING DATA SET OF OZONE PROFILES WILL BE CONSTRUCTED FROM THE COMBINATION OF THESE CRISM 02 SINGLET DELTA EMISSION MEASUREMENTS WITH COINCIDENT MARS COLOR IMAGER (MARCI) ULTRAVIOLET IMAGING RETRIEVALS OF OZONE COLUMN DENSITIES (MALIN ET AL., 2008). CORRELATIONS WITH DUST AND ICE AEROSOLS WILL SUBSEQUENTLY BE ASSESSED IN THE CONTEXT OF COINCIDENT MARC I DUST AND ICE COLUMN OPTICAL DEPTH RETRIEVALS. WE WILL FURTHER CONDUCT A UNIQUE INVESTIGATION OF 02 SINGLET DELTA COLLISIONAL DE-EXCITATION RATES, SUPPORTED BY CRISM LIMB PROFILING OBSERVATIONS AT HIGH NORTHERN LATITUDES IN DECEMBER OF 2006. UNCERTAINLY IN THIS RATE COEFFICIENT CONTRIBUTES THE DOMINANT (AND CONSIDERABLE) UNCERTAINTY IN THE INTERPRETATION OF COLUMN 02 SINGLET DELTA EMISSION IN TERMS OF OZONE DENSITIES. THESE ANALYSES CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY TO ASSESSING THE IMPLICATIONS OF CURRENT AS WELL AS PLANNED NASA MISSION OBSERVATIONS OF MARS ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY, INCLUDING METHANE. AS SUCH, THEY SUPPORT MDAP OBJECTIVES AND CONTRIBUTE TO NASA S STRATEGIC GOALS OF PLANETARY EXPLORATION.

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• $120,021 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS THREE-YEAR CCMSC INVESTIGATION ARE TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING THE PHYSICS OF SOLAR-WIND/MAGNETOSPHERE COUPLING DURING SOLAR MINIMUM (WEAK DRIVING), TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE QUIET MAGNETOSPHERE, TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF WEAK 27-DAY-REPEATING STORMS DURING SOLAR MINIMUM, AND TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOLAR-WIND SOURCE REGIONS ON THE SUN THAT CAUSE DIFFERENT REACTIONS AT EARTH. THIS CCMSC RESEARCH PROJECT BUILDS ON SEVERAL RECENT ADVANCEMENTS MADE IN UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC PHYSICS OF SOLAR-WIND/MAGNETOSPHERE COUPLING AND IN UNDERSTANDING STREAM-DRIVEN GEOMAGNETIC STORMS. THE PHYSICS OF SOLAR-WIND/MAGNETOSPHERIC COUPLING AT SOLAR MINIMUM WILL BE INVESTIGATED, WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE VISCOUS INTERACTION MEDIATED BY SOLAR-WIND TURBULENCE AND ON MACH-NUMBER DEPENDENCIES TO THE DAYSIDE RECONNECTION RATE. THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF WEAK 27-DAY-REPEATING STORMS DURING SOLAR MINIMUM WILL BE INVESTIGATED WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON THE EFFECTS OF THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM, ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE PLASMASPHERE AND DRAINAGE PLUME, ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE ION AND ELECTRON PLASMA SHEETS, AND ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE OUTER ELECTRON RADIATION BELT. THE TIME EVOLUTION OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE WILL BE CONNECTED TO THE TIME EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR WIND AT EARTH. THE QUIET MAGNETOSPHERE UNDER NORTHWARD IMF WILL BE INVESTIGATED WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON THE LITTLE KNOWN STATISTICAL DEPENDENCE OF GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY ON THE STRENGTH OF THE DUSK-TO-DAWN SOLAR-WIND ELECTRIC FIELD. POLAR-CAP-SATURATION EFFECTS IN THE MAGNETOSPHERE-IONOSPHERE SYSTEM UNDER NORTHWARD IMF WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THE STATISTICAL REACTION OF THE EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE TO THE VARIOUS TYPES OF SOLAR-WIND SOURCE REGIONS ON THE SOLAR SURFACE WILL BE DETERMINED WITH THE USE OF A MULTI-YEAR DATA SET THAT CONNECTS THE SOLAR WIND AT EARTH TO THE SOLAR SURFACE. THIS STATISTICAL CONNECTION IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST DURING THE MINIMUM OF SOLAR CYCLE 24 WHEREIN LARGE CORONAL HOLES AND EJECTA DO NOT DOMINATE THE SOURCE OF THE WIND. FULL PARTICIPATION IN CCMSC WORKSHOPS WILL BE PART OF THIS INVESTIGATION. THIS CCMSC INVESTIGATION WILL RESULT IN A SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVED QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICS OF SOLAR-WIND/MAGNETOSPHERE COUPLING DURING SOLAR MINIMUM AND WILL RESULT IN A FULLER UNDERSTANDING OF THE REACTION OF THE EARTH DURING THE MINIMUM OF SOLAR CYCLE 24. THIS PROPOSED CCMSC INVESTIGATION DIRECTLY SUPPORTS THE CCMSC PROGRAM BY STRIVING TO UNDERSTAND THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF SOLAR MINIMUM 24 AND BY INVESTIGATING THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE SOLAR WIND AND THE MAGNETOSPHERE-IONOSPHERE SYSTEM.

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• $120,000 - Monday the 18th of May 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INVESTIGATE CHEMISTRY AND DYNAMICS OF VENUS MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE (75-120 KM). IMPROVED (JAMES CLERK MAXWELL TELESCOPE-JCMT) AND NEW (STRATOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY FOR INFRARED ASTRONOMY-SOFIA; ATACAMA LARGE MILLIMETER ARRAY-ALMA) OBSERVATIONAL CAPABILITIES WILL BE APPLIED TO SPECTRALLY RESOLVED, PRESSURE-BROADENED SUB-MM LINES OF 12CO, 13CO, HDO, SO2 , AND SO. MEASUREMENTS SUPPORT 75-120 KM VERTICAL PROFILE RETRIEVALS OF COMPOSITION, DOPPLER WINDS, AND TEMPERATURES (CLANCY ET AL., 1990, 2003, 2008; LELLOUCH ET AL., 1994, 2008; GURWELL ET AL., 1995, 2007; SANDOR&CLANCY, 2005). WORK WILL BUILD UPON PREVIOUS SUB-MM STUDIES FROM THE JCMT BY SANDOR AND CLANCY, WITH ADVANTAGES OF RECENT JCMT HARDWARE UPGRADES, AND OF SOFIA AND ALMA AS NEW OBSERVATION PLATFORMS. SPECIFIC RESEARCH AREAS INCLUDE ELUCIDATION OF TEMPORAL VARIABILITIES, BOTH GLOBAL AND REGIONAL, OF CHEMISTRY (SULFUR MOLECULES AND WATER), AND OF DYNAMICS (WINDS, TEMPERATURE AND CO). PREVIOUS SUB-MM WORK HAS IDENTIFIED TIME DEPENDENCIES IN ALL OF THESE MEASURABLES. PROPOSED WORK WILL FIND CORRELATIONS AMONG THEM, AND DETERMINE THE UNDERLYING PHYSICS THAT DRIVE THEM. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS THAT IT WILL ADDRESS FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS ABOUT VENUS' CURRENT AND PAST HISTORY, USING OBSERVATIONAL TOOLS (SUB-MM SPECTROSCOPY) UNIQUELY SUITED TO THE 75-120 KM REGION. MORE BROADLY, USE OF JCMT, SOFIA, AND ALMA WILL SUPPORT NASA'S LEADERSHIP ROLE IN USE OF THESE LARGE, INTERNATIONAL FACILITIES FOR EXPANDING SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING.

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• $109,408 - Monday the 20th of April 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE MOON IS THE MOST EASILY OBSERVABLE SOLAR-SYSTEM BODY. AS SUCH IT CAN BE USED AS A TESTING GROUND FOR REMOTE-SENSING TECHNIQUES. SUCH TECHNIQUES ARE NOT ONLY VALUABLE FOR ANALYZING THE GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE LUNAR SURFACE AND REGOLITH, BUT ARE IMPORTANT FOR APPLICATION TO OTHER SOLAR-SYSTEM BODIES. WE WILL PERFORM PHOTOMETRIC AND POLARIMETRIC INVESTIGATIONS OF THE MOON WITH THE GOAL OF FURTHERING ITS CHARACTERIZATION AND DEVELOPING NEW REMOTE-SENSING TECHNIQUES. OUR METHODS INCLUDE BOTH PHOTOMETRIC AND POLARIMETRIC TECHNIQUES. HISTORICALLY, POLARIZATION HAS BEEN UNDERUTILIZED IN PLANETARY REMOTE SENSING. PARTLY THIS IS DUE TO THE UMOV EFFECT THAT ESTABLISHES A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE DEGREE OF POLARIZATION AND THE INVERSE ALBEDO AT LARGE PHASE ANGLES. HOWEVER, THE UMOV EFFECT DOES NOT PRESENT ALL THE PHYSICS. DEVIATIONS FROM THE UMOV EFFECT, ALONG WITH POLARIZATION COLOR MAPPINGS, ARE SENSITIVE TO REGOLITH MATURITY AND TO BULK CHEMISTRY. IN ADDITION, AT SMALL PHASE ANGLES THE MOON REVEALS A WIDE NEGATIVE POLARIZATION BRANCH WHOSE INVERSION ANGLE IS 22## AND WHOSE AVERAGE AMPLITUDE |PMIN| IS 1%. THE EXACT CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS NEGATIVE POLARIZATION DEPEND ON BOTH THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE LUNAR SURFACE AND CONTAIN THIS SURFACE INFORMATION. A POLARIZATION MAPPING OF THE MOON IN PMIN IS SENSITIVE TO BOTH THE SURFACE ALBEDO AND REGOLITH MORPHOLOGY. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO PRODUCE MAPPINGS OF VARIOUS OBSERVABLE PARAMETERS AND TO ANALYZE THEM IN CONJUNCTION WITH NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS, TO PRODUCE MAPPINGS OF REGOLITH PROPERTIES.

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