The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $104,410 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  A COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES LEADING TO ENERGY RELEASE IN SOLAR FLARES, IN PARTICULAR THE PROCESSES THAT LEAD TO SUCH COPIOUS PARTICLE ACCELERATION, IS ESSENTIAL NOT ONLY FOR THE STUDY OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES OF PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS, BUT ALSO FOR THE RELIABLE PREDICTION OF POTENTIAL HAZARDS TO SPACECRAFT AND HUMANS IN SPACE. THE OVERALL GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO PROBE THE NATURE OF THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE ACCELERATION AND PROPAGATION OF ENERGETIC ELECTRONS IN SOLAR ARES, AND HENCE TO ACHIEVE A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNDERLYING CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF IMPULSIVE MAGNETIC ENERGY RELEASE. WE WILL ADDRESS THIS GOAL THROUGH QUANTITATIVE INTERPRETATION OF THE SPATIAL, TEMPORAL AND SPECTRAL SIGNATURES OF HARD X-RAY RADIATION OBSERVED BY THE NASA REUVEN RAMATY HIGH ENERGY SOLAR SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGER (RHESSI). IN PARTICULAR, WE PROPOSE TO APPLY A RECENTLY-DEVELOPED PROCEDURE FOR IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY ANALYSIS OF HARD X-RAY EMISSION; THIS PROCEDURE UTILIZES SOURCE VISIBILITIES (TWO-DIMENSIONAL SPATIAL FOURIER TRANSFORMS OF THE SOURCE) AND IS OPTIMIZED TO THE MANNER IN WHICH RHESSI ENCODES IMAGING INFORMATION. THIS NEW AND INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY RESULTS IN IMAGES OF THE ELECTRON FLUX SPECTRUM THROUGHOUT THE FLARE VOLUME. WITH SUCH IMAGES, ONE CAN: * STUDY SPECTRAL VARIATIONS AMONGST SOURCE FEATURES, AND ASSESS THE REASON FOR THEM; * DIRECTLY PROBE OF THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES AFFECTING THE ACCELERATED ELECTRONS; * DETERMINE EMPIRICALLY THE FRACTION OF PARTICLES IN THE ACCELERATION REGION THAT UNDERGO ACCELERATION TO HARD X-RAY PRODUCING ENERGIES; AND EVEN * PROBE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS IN THE ACCELERATION REGION ITSELF. SEVERAL BENEFITS TO NASA'S PROGRAMS ENSUE: (1) OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" (NASA STRATEGIC GOAL 3.B.1) WILL INCREASE; (2) THIS NEW KNOWLEDGE CAN BE USED BY RESEARCHERS CONCERNED WITH PARTICLE ACCELERATION PROCESSES IN THE SUN AND IN OTHER ASTROPHYSICAL OBJECTS; (3) OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF SOLAR ERUPTIVE EVENTS WILL CONSTITUTE A SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRESS IN OUR ABILITY TO PREDICT EXTREME AND DYNAMIC CONDITIONS IN SPACE" (NASA STRATEGIC GOAL 3.B.3). SUCH KNOWLEDGE IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE SAFE IMPLEMENTATION OF NASA'S VISION FOR SPACE EXPLORATION; (4) THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH, EXPRESSED IN TEXTBOOKS AND OTHER MATERIALS, WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH PUBLIC OUTREACH PROGRAMS, THEREBY INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS AND INCREASING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF SPACE RESEARCH.

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