The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $107,000 - Thursday the 26th of March 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  NONDESTRUCTIVE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAPPING OF NANOSTRUCTURES AND PROPERTIES OF INTERPLANETARY DUST PARTICLES. THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF COMETS AT THE NANOSCALE, A SMALL DETAIL CURRENTLY INACCESSIBLE BY ASTRONOMICAL AND SPACE MISSION OBSERVATIONS, MAY HOLD THE ULTIMATE CLUES TO THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. THE LATEST DYNAMICAL MODEL OF ZODIACAL CLOUD IMPLIES THAT INTERPLANETARY DUST PARTICLES (IDPS) COLLECTED FROM THE STRATOSPHERE ARE DOMINATED BY COMET FRAGMENTS. INDEED, CHONDRITIC POROUS (CP) IDPS AND CLUSTER IDPS IN GENERAL ARE FRAGILE, POROUS FINE-GRAINED AGGREGATES, WITH PROPERTIES CONSISTENT WITH A COMETARY ORIGIN. THEY REPRESENT THE MOST PRIMITIVE EXTRATERRESTRIAL MATERIALS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR LABORATORY STUDY, CONTAINING AN ABUNDANCE OF SURVIVING PRESOLAR INTERSTELLAR MATERIAL. WITH INDIGENOUS PORES AND TEXTURES RELATED TO PARENT BODY PROCESSES LIKELY PRESERVED IN IDPS AS WELL AS PRESOLAR GRAINS AND ORGANIC MATTER, NONDESTRUCTIVE THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3D) STRUCTURAL AND COMPOSITIONAL MAPPING OF INTACT IDPS, COMBINED WITH ISOTOPIC AND MINERALOGICAL MEASUREMENTS, PROVIDES A POWERFUL AVENUE FOR PROBING PRESOLAR PROCESSES, ICE AND DUST AGGLOMERATION IN THE EARLY SOLAR NEBULA, AND THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF COMETS AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM AT A FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL. WE PROPOSE TO UTILIZE HARD X-RAY PHASE CONTRAST NANOTOMOGRAPHY, A NEW NONDESTRUCTIVE 3D IMAGING TECHNIQUE THAT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DEMONSTRATED TO REVEAL WITH HIGH SENSITIVITY IDP HETEROGENEITIES WITH A RESOLUTION OF 30 NM OR BETTER. COMBINING THIS TECHNIQUE WITH X-RAY ABSORPTION CONTRAST NANOTMOGRAPHY AND FLUORESCENCE MAPPING, AS WELL AS COLLABORATIVELY WITH SECONDARY ION MASS SPECTROMETRY, TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, AND X-RAY ABSORPTION NEAR-EDGE SPECTROSCOPY, WE AIM TO MORPHOLOGICALLY, TEXTURALLY, MICROSTRUCTURALLY, COMPOSITIONALLY, AND PETROGRAPHICALLY INVESTIGATE BOTH INTACT CP IDPS AND CHONDRITIC SMOOTH (CS) IDPS (FROM CLUSTER-TYPE PARTICLES) IN UNPRECEDENTED 3D DETAIL. WE INTEND TO FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: (1) TO THREE-DIMENSIONALLY MAP THE POROSITY AND POROUS STRUCTURE OF BOTH CP IDPS AND CS IDPS USING THE PHASE CONTRAST NANOTOMOGRAPHY TO CONSTRAIN THE FORMATION AND ORIGIN OF THE POROUS STRUCTURE AND THE SOURCES OF IDPS, (2) TO ANALYZE THE MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF INTERIOR PORE WALL SURFACES IN 3D DETAIL TO INVESTIGATE EVIDENCE OF EROSION BY LIQUID WATER AND THE EXTENT OF SUCH SECONDARY PROCESS IN COMETS, (3) TO MAP THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SILICATES AND CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL IN SITU IN INTACT IDPS AT THE 3D NANOSCALE, ALONG WITH ACQUIRING COMPOSITIONAL AND MINERALOGICAL INFORMATION, TO CONSTRAIN THE STRUCTURE AND NATURE OF PRESOLAR GRAINS, PRESOLAR PROCESSES, AND THE EFFECTS OF POTENTIAL SECONDARY PROCESSES ON COMETARY MATTER, AND (4) TO MAP AND ANALYZE THE 3D DISTRIBUTION AND FORMATION OF RIMS AND LINEAR FEATURES TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF RADIATION EXPOSURE AND ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY HEATING AS WELL AS TO DEVELOP A NONDESTRUCTIVE APPROACH TO IMAGING IRRADIATION FEATURES IN BULK PARTICLES. THE COMPREHENSIVE, NANOSCALE-DETAIL-INCONTEXT INFORMATION TO BE OBTAINED WOULD YIELD NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURE OF PRESOLAR INTERSTELLAR GRAINS AND INTERSTELLAR PROCESSES, THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF PRIMITIVE BODIES AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM, AND PERHAPS THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. NEW INFORMATION ON ICE GRAINS, THE FLUFFY STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF INTERSTELLAR GRAINS AND COMETARY MATTER, AND HEATING EFFECTS, TOGETHER WITH THE NEW APPROACH TO NONDESTRUCTIVE 3D IMAGING OF IRRADIATION FEATURES IN BULK SAMPLES, WOULD CONSIDERABLY FACILITATE STARDUST MISSION SAMPLE ANALYSIS AND DEEP IMPACT EXTENDED INVESTIGATION DATA ANALYSIS. THIS RESEARCH WOULD ALSO HELP DEVELOP A NEW FRONTIERS COMET SURFACE SAMPLE RETURN MISSION AS WELL AS NEW DISCOVERY SAMPLE-RETURN MISSIONS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS HIGHLY RELEVANT TO THE COSMOCHEMISTRY PROGRAM AND WOULD REPRESENT AN IMPORTANT NEW EFFORT COMPLEMENTARY TO ON-GOING RESEARCH ACTIVITIES T

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