Analyzed 117 filings but
only displaying 100. Please
email info@techinquiry.org if you would like instructions on how to increase the
underlying caps.
All links and images are annotations added to the original Senate OPR data by Tech Inquiry.
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Analyzed 119 filings but only
displaying 25. Please email info@techinquiry.org if you would like instructions on how to increase the
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All links and images are annotations added to the original Senate OPR data by Tech Inquiry.
Any normalized names are clearly labeled with the original
('as written') text.
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
NASA Authorization - university research issues.
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
DEFENSE
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
NASA Authorization - university research issues.
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
DEFENSE
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
NASA Authorization - university research issues.
DEFENSE
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
Filing 6 of 25 2020, 2nd Quarter (Apr 1 - June 30)
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
FY2020 & FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
DEFENSE
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
FY2020 & FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
AEROSPACE
FY2020 & FY2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
FY 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, Space Situational Awareness Systems
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
AEROSPACE
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
NASA authorization bill (S. 2800) - research issues.
DEFENSE
Defense Department Appropriations Act, FY20, UARC issues
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
Defense Department Appropriations Act, FY20, UARC issues
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding. Defense Department Appropriations Act, FY20, UARC issues
DEFENSE
Defense Department Appropriations Act, FY20, UARC issues
AEROSPACE
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding. Defense Department Appropriations Act, FY20, UARC issues
DEFENSE
Defense Department Appropriations Act, FY20, UARC issues
AEROSPACE
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
Filing 14 of 25 2019, 1st Quarter (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
AEROSPACE
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2019 & FY2020, science, aeronautics and exploration account funding, space science funding.
Filing 23 of 25 2019, 1st Quarter (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
As written: "Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)"
Senate
As written: "SENATE"
Issues
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
H.R. 3267 and S. 1662: Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2018 and FY2019, Science, aeronautics and exploration account funding
H.R. 3267 and S. 1662: Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2018 and FY2019, Science, aeronautics and exploration account funding
H.R. 3267 and S. 1662: Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY2018 and FY2019, Science, aeronautics and exploration account funding
All links and images are annotations added to the original statewide contract data by Tech Inquiry.
Any normalized names are clearly labeled with the original
('as written') text.
We recommend grabbing the PO number and manually searching
for the award on FACTS to retrieve the information not exported by FACTS to CSV
(to populate the data we display below).
All links and images are annotations added to the original statewide contracts list by Tech Inquiry.
Any normalized names are clearly labeled with the original
('as written') text.
jhpiego corporation
johns hopkins university applied physics laboratory llc
All links and images are annotations added to the original NLRB data by Tech Inquiry.
Any normalized names are clearly labeled with the original
('as written') text.
* The total 'potential' contract value figure requires the most care -- and, ideally, manual analysis -- as there can be double-counting between the potential value of a parent award (e.g., an Indefinite Delivery Contract) and one of its subawards (e.g., a Delivery Order). But, due to disk space constraints, we cannot store all contract information and have only uploaded subaward linkages back to mid-2019. For this reason and others, for the sake of consistency we compute the sum of the potential contract values in the naive manner with the understanding that it is usually only a slight overestimate of a number which is, even when carefully computed, often a very loose upper bound on eventually exercised options values.
Upstream search truncated to 5000 filings;
analyzed 5000 awards and displayed
250. While the data underlying every chart
should be treated as an underestimate, this is likely to
be particularly true now. Please email info@techinquiry.org if you would like instructions on how to increase the
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THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE FOCUSED SCIENCE TOPIC: "TOWARD A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO ENERGETIC PARTICLE ACCELERATION AND TRANSPORT ON THE SUN AND IN THE HELIOSPHERE" VIA THE ANALYSIS OF MULTI-VIEW, HIGH CADENCE EUV AND WHITE LIGHT OBSERVATIONS OF THE FORMATION OF CMES AND SHOCKS IN THE SOLAR CORONA. THE STUDY INCLUDES CMES WITH AND WITHOUT SEPS INTEGRATING TIGHTLY WITH THE FINAL FST TEAM. GOALS OUR GOALS ARE A FOCUSED SUBSET OF THE OVERARCHING FST GOALS. NAMELY, WE AIM TO DEVELOP A DETAILED OBSERVATIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROPERTIES OF THE SOURCE REGIONS OF SEPS AND TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATIVE ROLES OF FLARES AND CMES IN PRODUCING SEPS AS WELL AS THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS. DEPENDING ON THE DIRECTION OF THE BROADER FST TEAM WE COULD ALSO CONTRIBUTE IN IDENTIFYING THE MECHANISMS BY WHICH IMPULSIVE OR GRADUAL SEP EVENTS OF LARGE ANGULAR EXTENT OCCUR. OBJECTIVES OUR STARTING HYPOTHESIS, BASED ON OUR EARLY 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS OF EUV CMES WITH STEREO/SECCHI AND SDO/AIA, IS THAT SOME CMES UNDERGO A FAST (~1000 KM/S), SHORT-LIVED (< 10 MINS) LATERAL EXPANSION, DURING THEIR FORMATION. THIS HYPER-INFLATION PHASE OCCURS DURING THE FLARE IMPULSIVE PHASE, IN CLOSE TEMPORAL PROXIMITY TO THE EUV WAVE AND METRIC TYPE-II FORMATION AND THEREFORE COULD DRIVE AN EARLY SHOCK WAVE IN THE LOW CORONA. IT CAN PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN PARTICLE ACCELERATION AND DISTRIBUTION. TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS, WE UNDERTAKE A THOROUGH ANALYSIS OF MULTI-VIEW EUV AND CORONAGRAPH OBSERVATIONS OF CME AND SHOCK/WAVE FORMATION FOR SEP-ASSOCIATED EVENTS TO ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING SCIENCE QUESTIONS: - WHAT IS THE 3D KINEMATIC PROFILE OF THE NASCENT CME? MORE SPECIFICALLY, DO SEP-ASSOCIATED CMES UNDERGO A HYPER-INFLATION PHASE DURING THEIR FORMATION? - WHAT ARE THE 3D PROPERTIES (KINEMATIC AND DYNAMIC) OF THE CME AND ITS ASSOCIATED WAVE FROM THE LOW CORONA TO 15 RS? - CAN THESE PROPERTIES ACCOUNT FOR THE EXISTENCE (OR ABSENCE) OF SEPS IN A GIVEN EVENT? METHODOLOGY WE LEVERAGE EXISTING ANALYSIS TOOLS DEVELOPED BY OUR TEAM AND HIGHLY RELEVANT TO THIS PROBLEM. NAMELY, WE USE THE 3D SHOCK/CME RECONSTRUCTION AND WAVELET-ENHANCEMENT ALGORITHMS DEVELOPED FOR THE SECCHI ANALYSIS, AND THE CORONAL ANALYSIS OF SHOCKS AND WAVES (CASHEW) FRAMEWORK DEVELOPED FOR AIA ANALYSIS. OUR APPROACH COMPRISES THE FOLLOWING BROAD TASKS: - USE THE CASHEW LIST OF CME EVENTS (HTTP://HELIO.CFA.HARVARD.EDU/CASHEW/) TO SELECT A SUBSECT OF 20-30 CME-SEP EVENTS WITH GOOD OBSERVATIONAL COVERAGE IN SECCHI+AIA. - SELECT ANOTHER SET OF ~10 EVENTS WITH SIMILAR EUV SIGNATURES BUT WITHOUT (OR POSSIBLY WEAK) SEP SIGNATURES TO USE AS CONTROL GROUP. - PERFORM 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE CME AND WAVE IN THE EUV (<1.5 RS) TO EXTRACT THE 3D SPEEDS, SIZES, DIRECTIONS, AND EXPANSION (RADIAL & LATERAL) RATES. FOR BRIGHT EUV EVENTS, EXTRACT THE DENSITY ACROSS THE SHOCK AND CME. - USE MODELS OF THE BACKGROUND MAGNETIC FIELD TO ESTIMATE ALFVENIC MACH NUMBER TO ESTIMATE THE SHOCK STRENGTH. - PERFORM SIMILAR ANALYSIS IN THE CORONAGRAPH IMAGES (SECCHI COR1 & COR2). - ANALYZE THE KINEMATICS AND CONNECTIVITY TO IN-SITU DETECTORS ON STEREO, ACE OR WIND TO UNDERSTAND THE SEP TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL EVOLUTION. PROPOSED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FST TEAM EFFORT RELEVANCE: THE PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THREE OF THE FST SCIENCE OBJECTIVES (SEE GOALS) CONTRIBUTIONS TO TEAM: WE WILL PROVIDE 3D MEASUREMENTS OF THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL EVOLUTION, CONNECTIVITY AND COMPRESSION RATE OF SHOCKS AND CMES (1- 15 RS), FOR ~30 SEP EVENTS. WE WILL PROVIDE SOFTWARE AND EXPERTISE TO ANALYZE SPECIFIC EVENTS OR SIMULATIONS REQUESTED BY THE TEAM. METRICS: EXTRACT THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL EVOLUTION OF THE SHOCK AND CME FROM A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF EVENTS. ESTIMATE THE COMPRESSION RATE IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS (>2) ACROSS THE SHOCK BELOW 15 RS. ESTABLISH WHETHER THE HYPER-INFLATION PHASE EXISTS AND WHETHER IT CORRELATES WITH SEPS. ESTABLISH AN EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CME/SHOCK KINEMATICS AND SEP PRODUCTION.
SPACECRAFT MUST BE ABLE TO RESIST ABRUPT AND EXTREME TEMPERATURES. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN LOSS OF DATA, REDUCTION OF LIFESPAN, MALFUNCTIONS AND A RISK OF LOSS OF VEHICLE. SINCE THERE IS NO AIR IN SPACE, SPACECRAFT RELY ON RADIATIVE DISSIPATI
TRANSPORT IN THE TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERE PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN DETERMINING THE DISTRIBUTION OF AND CHANGES IN STRATOSPHERIC OZONE AND OTHER RADIATIVELY-IMPORTANT CONSTITUENTS (E.G., WATER VAPOR AND AEROSOLS). OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT STRATOSPHERIC CIRCULATION MAY BE ACCELERATING, LEADING TO INCREASED UPWELLING IN THE TROPICAL STRATOSPHERE, AND CHANGES IN STRATOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE. PREVIOUS STUDIES OF COMPOSITION AND TRANSPORT HAVE FOCUSED ON TROPICS-WIDE AVERAGE CHARACTERISTICS, HOWEVER RECENT OBSERVATIONAL AND MODELING STUDIES OF THE ANNUAL CYCLE OF OZONE AND OTHER TRACERS SHOWS SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TROPICS. THESE DIFFERENCES OCCUR BECAUSE THE BALANCE BETWEEN UPWELLING AND HORIZONTAL MIXING DIFFER ON EITHER SIDE OF THE EQUATOR. THIS IMPLIES THE NEED TO REVISE THE PARADIGM OF WELL-MIXED TROPICS AND TO CONSIDER LATITUDINAL VARIATIONS WITHIN THE TROPICS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL ANALYZE SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS AND SIMULATIONS OF TRACE GASES IN THE TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERE USING THIS NEW VIEW OF THE TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERE. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL:
1) CHARACTERIZE THE DISTRIBUTIONS AND VARIABILITY (INCLUDING THE UNUSUAL EVOLUTION SINCE 2015) OF TRACE GASES IN THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERE USING MULTIPLE SATELLITE INSTRUMENTS
2) EXAMINE INTERANNUAL AND LONG-TERM VARIABILITY CHANGES IN COMPOSITION AND TRANSPORT IN THE TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERE, FOR THE PAST AND PROJECTIONS AND
3) EVALUATE THE REPRESENTATION OF TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT IN CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS.
THIS RESEARCH WILL LEAD TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESSES INVOLVED IN DETERMINING THE TROPICAL LOWER-STRATOSPHERIC CONCENTRATIONS, VARIABILITY AND LONG-TERM TRENDS IN OZONE AND OTHER TRACE CONSTITUENTS. THIS UNDERSTANDING WILL ENABLE A MORE ACCURATE INTERPRETATION OF BOTH OZONE RECOVERY AND THE PROJECTED INCREASE IN THE SPEED OF THE STRATOSPHERIC BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION.
THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE ACMAP RESEARCH ELEMENTS DESCRIBED IN ROSES 2016. WE WILL USE AURA AND OTHER SATELLITE DATA, TOGETHER WITH COMPREHENSIVE CHEMISTRY CLIMATE MODELS, TO ESTIMATE TRANSPORT PROPERTIES IN THE STRATOSPHERE AND TRACK CHANGES IN STRATOSPHERIC COMPOSITION.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182608 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
hemispheric differences in tropical lower stratospheric transport
RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS IN THE EARTH'S OUTER RADIATION BELT DISRUPT OPERATIONS AND DAMAGE THE FLEET OF ORBITAL SPACECRAFT THAT ARE OF INCREASINGLY VITAL COMMERCIAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY IMPORTANCE. THIS HIGH RISK EXISTS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF ORBITAL INCLINATIONS, AND IT HAS BECOME MAGNIFIED AS NEW, MORE EFFICIENT ORBITAL MANEUVERS EXPOSE SPACECRAFT TO THE MOST INTENSE REGIONS OF THE OUTER BELT FOR HUNDREDS OF DAYS. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF RADIATION BELT ELECTRONS IS CHARGE ACCUMULATION THAT CAN LEAD TO ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE. MITIGATION OF THIS RISK IS POSSIBLE BY PLACING SATELLITES INTO A "SAFE-HOLD", DURING WHICH ALL NON-ESSENTIAL SYSTEMS ARE SHUT DOWN, BUT EFFECTIVELY UTILIZING THIS SAFEGUARD REQUIRES PREDICTION CAPABILITY WITH SUFFICIENT FOREWARNING AND ACCURACY TO BE ACTIONABLE. IN ADDITION, QUANTIFICATION OF THIS RISK MUST INVOLVE AN ACCURATE ATTRIBUTION OF THE OCCURRENCE OF ANOMALIES TO RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON EXPOSURE, BUT DUE TO THE HYSTERETIC NATURE OF CHARGING THIS REQUIRES HIGHLY DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE LOCAL SPACECRAFT ENVIRONMENT PRECEDING THE ANOMALY. THE COMPLEXITY OF MANAGING THESE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF RADIATION IS EXACERBATED DUE TO THE STRONG VARIABILITY CHARACTERISTIC OF THE OUTER BELT: RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON INTENSITIES CAN VARY BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE ON TIMESCALES FROM MINUTES TO DAYS DUE TO THE SHIFTING BALANCE AMONG ACCELERATION AND LOSS PROCESSES. THEREFORE, CHARACTERIZING AND PREDICTING THE VARIABILITY OF THE OUTER RADIATION BELT IS A FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGE OF RESEARCH AND OPERATIONS IN THE NEAR-EARTH SPACE ENVIRONMENT. ADDRESSING THIS CHALLENGE IS THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT. IT WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED AS THE CULMINATION OF THREE INTERLACED THRUSTS: (I) BUILD A PHYSICS-BASED MODEL WITH DATA-FLEXIBLE INGESTION CAPABILITY AND PREDICTIVE ACCURACY ON SPATIOTEMPORAL SCALES MOST RELEVANT TO OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT (II) DEVELOP DATA PRODUCTS MOST RESPONSIVE TO OPERATIONAL NEEDS IN COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY PARTNERS (III) PROVIDE AND ENSURE SUSTAINED ACCESS TO THIS MODEL TO THE BROAD STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY VIA CCMC. OUR CURRENT RADIATION BELT MODEL USES A COMBINATION OF GLOBAL MAGNETOSPHERIC AND FULLY 3D MASSIVELY-PARALLEL RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON MACROPARTICLE SIMULATIONS. THE MODEL HAS A DEMONSTRATED CAPABILITY TO REPRODUCE SUB-HOUR VARIABILITY OBSERVED BY THE VAN ALLEN PROBES DURING GEOMAGNETIC STORMS USING ONLY SOLAR WIND INPUT. IN THE PROPOSED PROJECT, WE WILL BUILD UPON THE PRIOR SUCCESS AND AUGMENT OUR PHYSICS-BASED MODEL BY INCORPORATING THE CAPABILITY TO INGEST SPACECRAFT MEASUREMENTS OF RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON INTENSITY AT ARBITRARY LOCATIONS AND TEMPORAL CADENCE. TO THIS END, WE WILL UTILIZE OUR NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART MHD CODE GAMERA, WHICH IS A REINVENTION OF THE HIGH-HERITAGE LFM MODEL, COUPLED WITH THE RICE CONVECTION MODEL OF THE RING CURRENT, TO CREATE AN UNPRECEDENTED TOOL TO STUDY MESOSCALE ELECTRODYNAMICS IN THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE. CONCURRENTLY TO BUILDING THIS NEXT-GENERATION RADIATION BELT MODELING CAPABILITY WE WILL ENSURE THE ACCESS AND RELEVANCE OF THESE MODELING TOOLS TO BOTH SIDES OF THE RESEARCH-OPERATIONS DIVIDE. WORKING WITH INDUSTRY PARTNERS WE WILL IDENTIFY OPERATIONS-RELEVANT DATA PRODUCTS WITH A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON ADDRESSING UNCERTAINTY REGARDING THE ROLE OF SPACE WEATHER IN ANOMALIES. BY MAKING THESE TOOLS AND DATA PRODUCTS AVAILABLE THROUGH NASA'S CCMC WE WILL LEVERAGE THEIR SKILLS AND EXPERTISE TO ENGAGE THE WIDEST POSSIBLE SEGMENT OF THE STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY. THE PROPOSED WORK IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE FOCUS AREA OF THE HSW-O2R PROGRAM ELEMENT BY IMPROVING SPECIFICATIONS AND/OR FORECASTS OF THE ENERGETIC PARTICLE AND PLASMA CONDITIONS ENCOUNTERED BY SPACECRAFT WITHIN EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE.
RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS IN THE EARTH'S OUTER RADIATION BELT DISRUPT OPERATIONS AND DAMAGE THE FLEET OF ORBITAL SPACECRAFT THAT ARE OF INCREASINGLY VITAL COMMERCIAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY IMPORTANCE. THIS HIGH RISK EXISTS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF ORBITAL INCLINATIONS, AND IT HAS BECOME MAGNIFIED AS NEW, MORE EFFICIENT ORBITAL MANEUVERS EXPOSE SPACECRAFT TO THE MOST INTENSE REGIONS OF THE OUTER BELT FOR HUNDREDS OF DAYS. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF RADIATION BELT ELECTRONS IS CHARGE ACCUMULATION THAT CAN LEAD TO ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE. MITIGATION OF THIS RISK IS POSSIBLE BY PLACING SATELLITES INTO A "SAFE-HOLD", DURING WHICH ALL NON-ESSENTIAL SYSTEMS ARE SHUT DOWN, BUT EFFECTIVELY UTILIZING THIS SAFEGUARD REQUIRES PREDICTION CAPABILITY WITH SUFFICIENT FOREWARNING AND ACCURACY TO BE ACTIONABLE. IN ADDITION, QUANTIFICATION OF THIS RISK MUST INVOLVE AN ACCURATE ATTRIBUTION OF THE OCCURRENCE OF ANOMALIES TO RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON EXPOSURE, BUT DUE TO THE HYSTERETIC NATURE OF CHARGING THIS REQUIRES HIGHLY DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE LOCAL SPACECRAFT ENVIRONMENT PRECEDING THE ANOMALY. THE COMPLEXITY OF MANAGING THESE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF RADIATION IS EXACERBATED DUE TO THE STRONG VARIABILITY CHARACTERISTIC OF THE OUTER BELT: RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON INTENSITIES CAN VARY BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE ON TIMESCALES FROM MINUTES TO DAYS DUE TO THE SHIFTING BALANCE AMONG ACCELERATION AND LOSS PROCESSES. THEREFORE, CHARACTERIZING AND PREDICTING THE VARIABILITY OF THE OUTER RADIATION BELT IS A FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGE OF RESEARCH AND OPERATIONS IN THE NEAR-EARTH SPACE ENVIRONMENT. ADDRESSING THIS CHALLENGE IS THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT. IT WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED AS THE CULMINATION OF THREE INTERLACED THRUSTS: (I) BUILD A PHYSICS-BASED MODEL WITH DATA-FLEXIBLE INGESTION CAPABILITY AND PREDICTIVE ACCURACY ON SPATIOTEMPORAL SCALES MOST RELEVANT TO OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT (II) DEVELOP DATA PRODUCTS MOST RESPONSIVE TO OPERATIONAL NEEDS IN COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY PARTNERS (III) PROVIDE AND ENSURE SUSTAINED ACCESS TO THIS MODEL TO THE BROAD STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY VIA CCMC. OUR CURRENT RADIATION BELT MODEL USES A COMBINATION OF GLOBAL MAGNETOSPHERIC AND FULLY 3D MASSIVELY-PARALLEL RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON MACROPARTICLE SIMULATIONS. THE MODEL HAS A DEMONSTRATED CAPABILITY TO REPRODUCE SUB-HOUR VARIABILITY OBSERVED BY THE VAN ALLEN PROBES DURING GEOMAGNETIC STORMS USING ONLY SOLAR WIND INPUT. IN THE PROPOSED PROJECT, WE WILL BUILD UPON THE PRIOR SUCCESS AND AUGMENT OUR PHYSICS-BASED MODEL BY INCORPORATING THE CAPABILITY TO INGEST SPACECRAFT MEASUREMENTS OF RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON INTENSITY AT ARBITRARY LOCATIONS AND TEMPORAL CADENCE. TO THIS END, WE WILL UTILIZE OUR NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART MHD CODE GAMERA, WHICH IS A REINVENTION OF THE HIGH-HERITAGE LFM MODEL, COUPLED WITH THE RICE CONVECTION MODEL OF THE RING CURRENT, TO CREATE AN UNPRECEDENTED TOOL TO STUDY MESOSCALE ELECTRODYNAMICS IN THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE. CONCURRENTLY TO BUILDING THIS NEXT-GENERATION RADIATION BELT MODELING CAPABILITY WE WILL ENSURE THE ACCESS AND RELEVANCE OF THESE MODELING TOOLS TO BOTH SIDES OF THE RESEARCH-OPERATIONS DIVIDE. WORKING WITH INDUSTRY PARTNERS WE WILL IDENTIFY OPERATIONS-RELEVANT DATA PRODUCTS WITH A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON ADDRESSING UNCERTAINTY REGARDING THE ROLE OF SPACE WEATHER IN ANOMALIES. BY MAKING THESE TOOLS AND DATA PRODUCTS AVAILABLE THROUGH NASA'S CCMC WE WILL LEVERAGE THEIR SKILLS AND EXPERTISE TO ENGAGE THE WIDEST POSSIBLE SEGMENT OF THE STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY. THE PROPOSED WORK IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE FOCUS AREA OF THE HSW-O2R PROGRAM ELEMENT BY IMPROVING SPECIFICATIONS AND/OR FORECASTS OF THE ENERGETIC PARTICLE AND PLASMA CONDITIONS ENCOUNTERED BY SPACECRAFT WITHIN EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE.
ASTEROID IMPACT AND DEFLECTION ASSESSMENT (AIDA) DOUBLE ASTEROID REDIRECTION TEST (DART) PHASES A-D UNDER NNN06AA01C AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) CONTRACT.
JOVIAN ENERGETIC PARTICLES INVESTGATION (JEPI)
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION S TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS . TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION S CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
WE WILL COMPARE MOTION SICKNESS AND RECOVERY FOLLOWING +3GX CENTRIFUGATION (SPACEFLIGHT VESTIBULAR ANALOG) IN TWO GROUPS: A TREATMENT GROUP GIVEN FEEDBACK TO GUIDE THEIR HEAD MOTION AND A CONTROL GROUP WITH NO SPECIFIC HEAD MOVEMENT STRATEGY.
SPATIAL/SPECTRAL IMAGING OF HELIOSPHERIC LYMAN ALPHA (SIHLA) TASK ORDER UNDER THE AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) II CONTRACT 80MSFC20D0004
OBJECTIVES WHEN AN INTERPLANETARY (IP) SHOCK IMPACTS THE MAGNETOSPHERE, ULF WAVES ARE GENERATED WITHIN THE MAGNETOSPHERE. THE WAVES INTERACT WITH PARTICLES, LEADING TO LOSS, RADIAL TRANSPORT, AND ACCELERATION OF THE PARTICLES. AN IP SHOCK GENERATES THREE TYPES OF ULF WAVES: (1) A TAILWARD PROPAGATING FAST MODE WAVE FRONT, (2) STANDING ALFVEN WAVES, (3) STANDING FAST MODE WAVES OR CAVITY MODE OSCILLATIONS (CMOS). PREVIOUS STUDIES EXTENSIVELY STUDIED THE PROPERTIES OF PROPAGATING FAST MODE WAVE FRONTS AND STANDING ALFVEN WAVES AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH ENERGETIC ELECTRONS. HOWEVER, EXCITATION OF CMOS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES ON ENERGETIC ELECTRONS REMAIN LARGELY UNKNOWN. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SHOCK-INDUCED CMOS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON ENERGETIC ELECTRONS. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. QUESTION 1. DO INTERPLANETARY SHOCKS EXCITE CAVITY MODE OSCILLATIONS (CMOS) AND WHAT ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THE OSCILLATIONS? QUESTION 2. HOW DO ENERGETIC ELECTRONS RESPOND TO CMOS? METHODOLOGY TO BE USED TO ADDRESS THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVE WE WILL IDENTIFY IP SHOCKS BY EXAMINING THE SYM-H INDEX AND DETERMINE THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SHOCKS USING DATA FROM THE THEMIS SPACECRAFT THAT ARE LOCATED IN THE SOLAR WIND, OR USING THE SOLAR WIND OMINI DATA THAT INCORPORATE ALL AVAILABLE SOLAR WIND OBSERVATIONS. MAGNETOSPHERIC RESPONSE TO IP SHOCKS WILL BE STUDIED USING DATA FROM THE VAN ALLEN PROBES (ALTERNATIVE NAMES RBSP WILL BE USED IN THE REMAINDER OF THE PROPOSAL), THEMIS, AND OTHER SPACECRAFT. WE WILL RUN GLOBAL MHD SIMULATIONS TO SUPPLEMENT THE SPACECRAFT OBSERVATION IN GAINING THE GLOBAL MODE STRUCTURE OF ULF WAVES. WE WILL EXAMINE THE MECHANISM OF OBSERVED PARTICLE MODULATIONS USING TEST PARTICLE SIMULATIONS IN THE ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS GIVEN BY THE GLOBAL MHD SIMULATIONS. RELEVANCE TO NASA OBJECTIVES MHD WAVES MEDIATE TRANSFER OF ENERGY IN A GLOBAL SCALE. THEREFORE, TO UNDERSTAND THEIR EXCITATION, PROPAGATION, AND DISSIPATION IS A MAJOR GOAL OF MAGNETOSPHERIC RESEARCH. THIS CONSIDERATION MAKES THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION HIGHLY RELEVANT TO THE DECADAL SURVEY GOAL: "DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE, IONOSPHERE, AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS." THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS ALSO RELEVANT TO THE GOAL OF THE RBSP MISSION "PROVIDE UNDERSTANDING, IDEALLY TO THE POINT OF PREDICTABILITY, OF HOW POPULATIONS OF RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS AND PENETRATING IONS IN SPACE FORM OR CHANGE IN RESPONSE TO VARIABLE INPUTS OF ENERGY FROM THE SUN" [MAUK ET AL., 2013]. THE INVESTIGATION ALSO HAS RELEVANCE TO ONE OF THE THEMIS MISSION'S BASELINE OBJECTIVE TO ADDRESS "HOW THE RADIATION BELTS ARE ENERGIZED ON TIME SCALES OF 2 4 HOURS DURING THE RECOVERY PHASE OF STORMS, AND HOW THE PRISTINE SOLAR WIND S INTERACTION WITH UPSTREAM BEAMS, WAVES AND THE BOW SHOCK AFFECTS SUN EARTH COUPLING" [ANGELOPOULOS, 2008], AND GOES BEYOND IT BY FOCUSING ON THE INITIAL PHASE OF STORMS AND INTERPLANETARY SHOCKS.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182608 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
a multisatellite study of magnetospheric response to interplanetary shocks
THE PURPOSE OF THE THIS CONTRACT IS TO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE AND UNIFORM APPROACH TO EVALUATE INITIAL AND ON-GOING LABORATORY CAPABILITY AND READINESS TO CARRY OUT NIAID-FUNDED CLINICAL TRIAL PROTOCOLS (PROTOCOLS) BY (1) MONITORING COMPLIANCE WITH
ASTERIOD IMPACT AND DEFLECTION ASSESSMENT (AIDA) - DOUBLE ASTERIOD REDIRECTION TEST (DART) PHASE A STUDY
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION IS TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION IS CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
ROCKET AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS IN ASTROPHYSICS -- VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION OF THE NEXT GENERATION FORTIS
WE SUBMIT HEREIN A PROPOSAL DESCRIBING PLANS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF A NEXT GENERATION FAR-UV OFF ROWLAND-CIRCLE TELESCOPE FOR IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY (FORTIS). THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSAL IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE SCIENTIFIC UTILITY OF MULTI-OBJECT SPECTROSCOPY OVER WIDE ANGULAR FIELDS IN THE FAR-UV WITH INVESTIGATIONS OF: THE BLUE STRAGGLER POPULATION IN THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER M10 LOW METALLICITY STAR FORMATION IN THE MAGELLANIC BRIDGE SHOCK STRUCTURES CYGNUS LOOP SUPERNOVA REMNANT A SEARCH FOR UNIDENTIFIED EMISSIONS IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AND POTENTIALLY AN, AS YET, UNNAMED COMET AS A TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY. FORTIS IS A PATHFINDER FOR DEVELOPING THE TECHNOLOGIES NECESSARY TO ENABLE FAR-UV SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEYS. SUCH SURVEYS WILL ALLOW US TO PROBE PROBLEMS RELEVANT TO THE FORMATION OF LARGE SCALE STRUCTURES, THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES, AND THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF STARS FROM INTERSTELLAR GAS. IN COMBINATION WITH EXISTING AND FUTURE SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEYS, THEY WILL PROVIDE A COMPLETE AND COMPELLING PANCHROMATIC PICTURE OF THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE. NEXT GENERATION FORTIS WILL FLY AS A SOUNDING ROCKET BORNE INSTRUMENT AND INCORPORATE A NUMBER OF UNIQUE TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING THE NEXT GENERATION MICROSHUTTER ARRAY (NGMSA), WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS ACQUISITION OF SPECTRA FROM MULTIPLE OBJECTS WITHIN A WIDE ANGULAR FIELD. THE NGMSA WILL BE CONTROLLED BY AN AUTONOMOUS TARGETING SYSTEM CAPABLE OF IDENTIFYING MULTIPLE OBJECTS ON-THE-FLY FOR FURTHER SPECTRAL ANALYSIS IN THE SHORT TIME AFFORDED TO FAR-UV OBSERVATIONS FROM A SOUNDING ROCKET ~ 400 SECONDS. WE WILL ALSO INCORPORATE LONG LIFE MICROCHANNEL PLATE (MCP) DETECTORS THAT HAVE HAVE HIGH OPEN AREA RATIOS, PROVIDING FOR INCREASED QUANTUM EFFICIENCY, AND IMPROVED RESISTANCE TO GAIN SAG, ALLOWING OPERATION AT HIGHER COUNT RATE. RECENT FLIGHT EXPERIENCE WITH THE FIRST GENERATION FORTIS HAS PROVIDED GUIDANCE TO IMPROVING THE SCIENCE RETURN OF THE NEXT GENERATION FORTIS. OUR PLANS FOR A RIGOROUS VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION OF THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IS DETAILED. THIS PROGRAM WILL SERVE AS THE BASIS OF DOCTORAL THESES FOR SEVERAL GRADUATE STUDENTS IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS TO A NUMBER OF UNDERGRADUATES. IT WILL ENABLE NEW SCIENCE THRUSTS, ENABLED BY NEW TECHNOLOGIES WHILE CULTIVATING NEW SKILLSETS IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF SPACE SCIENTISTS.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182608 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
rocket and laboratory experiments in astrophysics -- validation and verification of the next generat
MISSIONS TO SMALL BODIES HAVE BECOME PREVALENT. TO RECONSTRUCT SMALL BODIES NEAR- SURFACE EVOLUTION FROM PRIMITIVE TO MODIFIED WORLDS VIA REMOTE SENSING AND RETURNED SAMPLES REQUIRES AN UNDERSTANDING OF GRANULAR REGOLITH DYNAMICS. TO ADDRESS THE
ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLAR WIND AND INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELD ENVIRONMENT IS KEY TO BOTH SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF DYNAMIC PLASMA PROCESSES OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE INNER HELIOSPHERE AND TO SPACE WEATHER OPERATIONS. MOST CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE STATE OF THE INNER HELIOSPHERE IS DERIVED FROM TIME-STATIONARY SIMULATIONS DRIVEN BY SYNOPTIC PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETOGRAMS THAT TAKE A FULL SOLAR ROTATION (∼ 27 DAYS) TO ACCUMULATE. MEANWHILE, EVEN DURING QUIET HELIOSPHERIC CONDITIONS THE SUN IS NEVER TRULY IN STEADY STATE, AND THUS BOTH OUR UNDERSTANDING AND CHARACTER- IZATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT AT EARTH, OTHER PLANETS AND MAN-MADE SPACECRAFT THROUGHOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS HAMPERED BY THIS LIMITATION OF STATIONARITY. THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS PROJECT TO IMPLEMENT AND VALIDATE A ROBUST TIME-DEPENDENT MODEL OF THE INNER HELIOSPHERE DRIVEN BY DATA-ASSIMILATIVE PHOTOSPHERIC MAPS WITH AUTOMATED DOWN SELECTION OF THE BEST REALIZATIONS FROM THE ENSEMBLE. TO GO BEYOND THE STEADY-STATE PHOTOSPHERIC MAPS ADAPT MODEL WAS DEVELOPED THAT ASSIMILATES PHYSICS-BASED PREDICTIONS AND/OR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN AND PRODUCES INSTANTANEOUS SNAPSHOTS OF THE GLOBAL PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD DISTRIBUTION AT CADENCES OF 2-H OR LONGER. THESE TIME-EVOLVING MAPS CAN BE USED TO DRIVE MODELS OF THE SOLAR CORONA SUCH AS THE WSA CORONAL MODEL. THE LATTER, IN TURN, CAN BE USED TO DRIVE A TIME-DEPENDENT MODEL OF THE INNER HELIOSPHERE. THIS IS THE APPROACH THE PROPOSING TEAM TOOK IN RECENT WORK, WHERE WE DEVELOPED THE FRAMEWORK FOR DRIVING OUR MHD MODEL OF THE INNER HELIOSPHERE WITH THESE TIME-DEPENDENT INPUTS, AND SHOWED THAT IT HAS POTENTIAL TO DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE PREDICTIONS OF THE BACKGROUND SOLAR WIND AT THE EARTH S ORBIT. IN THIS PROJECT, WE PROPOSE TO BUILD UPON THIS SUCCESSFUL PRELIMINARY WORK AND DEVELOP A HIGH PERFORMANCE, ROBUST, AND R2O-READY SIMULATION PIPELINE STARTING WITH TIME-EVOLVING ADAPT PHOTOSPHERIC MAPS AND ENDING WITH PREDICTIONS OF KEY PARAMETERS AT EARTH. TO THIS END WE WILL UNDERTAKE THE FOLLOWING TASKS: 1) DEVELOP AN INTERFACE FOR TIME-DEPENDENT ADAPT-WSA INPUTS INTO OUR MHD MODEL 2) DEVELOP METRICS FOR DOWN SELECTION FROM THE ENSEMBLE OF RUNS 3) PERFORM 4--6 YEARS WORTH OF WSA SIMULATIONS DRIVEN BY HIGHCADENCE (UP TO 2-H) ADAPT MAPS (THIS WILL REQUIRE RUNNING MANY WSA INSTANCES IN PARALLEL), AND DEVELOP AUTOMATIC TOOLS FOR SELECTION OF BEST REPRESENTATIONS BASED ON THE METRICS 4) RUN CORRESPONDING SOLAR WIND MHD SIMULATIONS FOR THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME DRIVEN BY BEST REPRESENTATIONS 5) MAKE RESULTS OF OUR SIMULATIONS AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY VIA AN INTERACTIVE WEB INTERFACE. IN THIS PROJECT WE WILL USE A NEWLY DEVELOPED MHD MODEL, GAMERA, WHICH IS A RECENT FULL REWRITE OF OUR HIGH-HERITAGE LYON-FEDDER- MOBARRY (LFM) MHD CODE USED EXTENSIVELY FOR SOLAR WIND SIMULATIONS (KNOWN AS LFM-HELIO). GAMERA HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN MODERN FORTRAN, IS HIGHLY FLEXIBLE AND PORTABLE. IT FEATURES MULTIPLE IMPROVEMENTS INCLUDING: MINIMAL EXTERNAL LIBRARY DEPENDENCE, HIGH DEGREE OF OPTIMIZATION, OPENMP AND MPI PARALLELISM ALLOWING USE OF HETEROGENEOUS ARCHITECTURES, AND MULTIPLE NUMERICS UPGRADES. THUS, WHILE PRESERVING ALL KEY NUMERICAL ALGO- RITHMS UNDERLYING THE LFM CODE, GAMERA PROVIDES A ROBUST AND USER-FRIENDLY SOLUTION FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE, WHICH LENDS ITSELF TO AN EASY AND STRAIGHTFORWARD IMPLEMENTATION IN AN OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT. THE PROJECT IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO BOTH NASA AND NOAA GOALS, AND TO THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE HSW-O2R PROGRAM IN A NUMBER OF CRITICAL WAYS. THE PROJECT WILL CONTRIBUTE NEW SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING BY INVESTIGATING HELIOSPHERIC CONSEQUENCES OF TIMEDEPENDENT PROCESSES AT THE SUN. THE PROPOSED MODEL IMPROVEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENT WILL ENABLE TRANSITION TO OPERATIONS, CONTRIBUTE TO ADVANCEMENT OF OPERATIONAL SPACE WEATHER SERVICES, AND ENABLE MECHANISMS FOR SCIENCE AND USER COMMUNITY FEEDBACK VIA INTERACTIVE WEB ACCESS TO THE SIMULATION RESULTS.
I PROPOSE TO CONTRIBUTE AS A PARTICIPATING SCIENTIST (PS) IN THE PLANNING AND ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS WITH THE AKATSUKI LIGHTNING AND AIRGLOW CAMERA (LAC) WITH AN EMPHASIS ON STUDYING THE TIME-HISTORY OF LIGHTNING FLASHES, A UNIQUE AND NOVEL WINDOW ON LIGHTNING.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182680 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
venus atmosphere studies with the akatsuki lightning camera
AIR POLLUTION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ~7 MILLION PREMATURE DEATHS EVERY YEAR. PAST AND CURRENT SATELLITE MISSIONS IN LOW EARTH ORBIT HAVE CHARACTERIZED AIR POLLUTION DISTRIBUTIONS AND ESTABLISHED TRENDS AT FIXED LOCAL SOLAR TIMES BUT IN MOST CASES CANNOT RESOLVE INDIVIDUAL EMISSION SOURCES WITHOUT STATISTICAL POST-ANALYSIS.
WE PROPOSE TO CREATE ADAPTERS TO CONVERT BETWEEN THE COMMON DATA MODELS USED WITHIN LOW LEVEL PYTHON HELIOPHYSICS LIBRARIES: SPACEPY, NDCUBE/SUNPY, AND HAPI.
JOVIAN ENERGETIC PARTICLES INVESTGATION (JEPI)
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION S TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS . TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION S CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: A GLOBAL 3D DESCRIPTION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND ITS TIME EVOLUTION IS A CRITICAL COMPONENT FOR A COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE SYSTEM.
IDIQ FOR ADVISORY SERVICES TO ASSIST SSA WITH DISABILITY ISSUES
THE PURPOSE OF THIS MODIFICATION IS TO REVISE THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS OF THE CONTRACT:
F-2 LOCATION OF SERVICES,
G-12 DESIGNATION OF PROPERTY ADMINISTRATOR AND LISTING OF GOV
STATEMENT OF WORK
1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP VERY HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLAR ARRAY TECHNOLOGY FOR USE IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS TYPICALLY EXEMPLIFIED BY TRAJECTORIES TO AND ORBITING JUPITER. THE ENVIRONMENTS ARE LOW TEMPERATURE, ABOUT -125 DEGREES C LOW IRRADIANCE, ABOUT 50 W PER SQUARE METER, AND HIGH CHARGED PARTICLE DENSITY. THE PROJECT ARRAY IS ALSO INTENDED TO DEVELOP VERY HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLAR ARRAY TECHNOLOGY IN EARTH ORBIT. THIS STATEMENT OF WORK IS THE RESULT OF A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY, JHUAPL, FOR AWARD UNDER THE NASA HEADQUARTERS SPACE TECHNOLOGY MISSION DIRECTORATE, STMD, NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT, NRA, ENTITLED SPACE TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, DEMONSTRATION, AND INFUSION 2015, APPENDIX NNH15ZOA001N-15GCD-C3.
2.0 SCOPE OF WORK
THE SCOPE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DESIGN AND DEMONSTRATE AT TRL-5 A TRANSFORMATIONAL SOLAR ARRAY OVER THREE SUCCESSIVE PHASES, BASE, OPTION I, AND OPTION II, WITH THE FOLLOWING GOALS.
-OVER 47 PERCENT BEGINNING OF LIFE CELL EFFICIENCY AT 5 AU AND -125 DEGREES C
-OVER 32 PERCENT END OF LIFE EFFICIENCY AT THE BLANKET LEVEL AT 50 W M-2, -125 DEGREES C AND 4E15 1 MEV E CM-2
-OVER W KG-1 AT EOL FOR THE ENTIRE ARRAY INCLUDING STRUCTURE AND DEPLOYMENT MECHANISMS
-A STOWED PACKAGING DENSITY OF 60 KW M-3 COMPUTED AT BOL FOR 1,345 W M-2
-AN ABILITY TO SURVIVE LAUNCH AND NUMEROUS DEPLOY RETRACT CYCLES WITHOUT DEGRADATION
-AN OUTPUT HIGHER THAN 300 V
-AN ABILITY TO OPERATE IN A PLASMA GENERATED A BY XENON THRUSTERS, TYPICALLY 1E8 CM-3 IONS WITH AN AVERAGE ENERGY OF 2EV
-A DESIGN COMPATIBLE WITH ELECTROSTATIC AND MAGNETIC CLEANLINESS
-SOLAR CELLS THAT HAVE NO ANOMALOUS FLAT SPOT BEHAVIOR AT LOW IRRADIANCE AND LOW TEMPERATURE
-A DESIGN COMPATIBLE WITH ELECTROSTATIC AND MAGNETIC CLEANLINESS
-RECORD BREAKING IMM6 SOLAR CELLS
-A MOCK-UP PRODUCTION LINE FOR THE INEXPENSIVE MANUFACTURE OF SPACECRAFT BLANKET ARRAYS
3.0 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS AND BACKGROUND
AIAA STANDARD S-112, QUALIFICATION AND QUALITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS ON SPACE SOLAR PANELS
4.0 DESCRIPTION OF CONTRACT AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
4.1 BASE. SYSTEM DESIGN, COMPONENT TEST AND ANALYSIS
-DESCRIBE IMM CELLS, FABRICATION TECHNIQUES, AND PREVIOUS WORK ON SURVIVING STOWAGE AND LAUNCH AND OPERATING AT GREATER THAN 330V
-35 PERCENT BOL GOAL
--CALCULATE IMM EFFICIENCY AT 5 AU AND -125 C.
--DEFINE PLAN TO ELIMINATE LILT, FABRICATE AND TEST IMM CELLS AT LILT TO BE CERTAIN TO SHOW THEY HARMFUL LILT, AND TEST CELLS AT LILT BEFORE AND AFTER 4.5E15 1 MEV E
-28 PERCENT AT BLANKET
--FABRICATE IMM SCAS FOR OUTGASSING TESTS WITH DC93-500 AND LOW OUTGAS ADHESIVE AND OPTIMIZED QUANTITY OF MICROSPHERES
--MEASURE AND REDUCE OUTGASSING OF SCAS MADE WITH ULTRA-LOW OUTGASSING ADHESIVE FILLED WITH MICROSPHERES
-FABRICATE BEST OUTGASSING SCAS FOR DSS BLANKET SAMPLES AND TEST AT APL
-REPORT IMM SOLAR CELL MASS AND POWER AT 5 AU AND EOL
-REPORT POWER AND PACKAGING DENSITY FOR 5 KW, 50 KW AND 100 KW
-DESCRIBE DEPLOYMENT DESIGN AND MECHANISM
-DESIGN MAGNETICALLY AND ELECTROSTATICALLY CLEAN ARRAY
-DOCUMENT REDUCTION IN COST AND CELL INSPECTION
4.2 OPTION I, TEST HARDWARE
-35 PERCENT BOL GOAL
--ELIMINATE LILT PHENOMENON IN IMM5 SOLAR CELLS
--FABRICATE SAMPLE IMM5 CELLS AND TEST AT LILT TO BE SURE HARMFUL LILT PHENOMENON ARE CURED
--TEST SAMPLE OF IMM5 CELLS TO BE SURE THAT HARMFUL LILT IS GONE AT EOL, 50 W PER SQUARE METER, -125 C, AND 4E15 1 MEV E PER SQUARE CENTIMETER.
-28 PERCENT AT BLANKET
--REFINE CONCENTRATOR COATING, ELIMINATE DELAMINATION, EVALUATE ULTRA-LOW OUTGASSING ADHESIVE FOR BACK OF WING
--MANUFACTURE SUFFICIENT IMM5 SCA STRINGS FOR TWO NASA150MM X 150MM BLANKETS
--MANUFACTURE TWO 150MM X 150MM BLANKETS WITH BACK-WIRING AND ULTRALOW OUTGASSING CELL TO SUBSTRATE ADHESIVES
--ESTIMATE EXPECTED ARRAY MASS AND PERFORMANCE AT BOL
--FUNCTIONALLY TEST AND EXPOSE A BLANKET TO ENVIRONMENTS
JOHNS HOPKINS APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY (JHU/APL) WILL PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR THE DRAGONFLY MISSION. DRAGONFLY IS A PROPOSED NEW FRONTIERS MISSION TO SEND A RELOCATABLE LANDER TO SATURN'S MOON TITAN. APL WILL FUND ITS TECHNICAL PARTNERS AND NON-GOVERNMENT SCIENCE TEAM COINVESTIGATORS THROUGH SUBCONTRACTS. ALL EFFORT BY NASA CENTER PARTNERS (GSFC, AMES, LANGLEY, AND JPL) WILL BE FUNDED THROUGH INTER-AGENCY TRANSFERS. THE PRIMARY FOCUS ON THE WORK IS THE INITIATION OF THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE DRAGONFLY SPACECRAFT, INITIATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GROUND SYSTEM, CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENCE INSTRUMENTS (DRAGMET, DRAGNS, DRAGONCAM, AND DRAMS/DRACO), INITIATION OF DEVELOPMENT OF DETAILED MISSION DESIGN PLAN AND INITIATION OF WORK TOWARDS ACHIEVING NEPA COMPLIANCE AND LAUNCH APPROVAL.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS MODIFICATION IS TO EXTEND THE PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE FROM DECEMBER 31, 2020 TO DECEMBER 30, 2021 AT NO ADDITIONAL COST AND NO EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENT TO THE GOVERNMENT
THE MINIATURE RADIO FREQUENCY (MINI-RF) SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR INSTRUMENT'S TEAM (JHU/APL) WILL PERFORM BI-STATIC SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE LUNAR SURFACE USING THE DEEP SPACE NETWORK'S DSS-13 APERTURE AS THE X-BAND TRANSMISSION.
ASTERIOD IMPACT AND DEFLECTION ASSESSMENT (AIDA) - DOUBLE ASTERIOD REDIRECTION TEST (DART) PHASE A STUDY
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION IS TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION IS CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
REMOTE OUTPUT-INPUT (RIO) APPLICATION-SPECIFIC INTEGRATED.CIRCUIT (ASIC) PARTS TASK ORDER UNDER THE AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) II CONTRACT 80MSFC20D0004
OBJECTIVES AND GOALS. OUR OVERALL GOAL IS TO CONDUCT A TARGETED STUDY OF PROCESSES IN MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE THROUGH THREE TASKS. IN TASK 1, WE WILL USE ALL THE ULTRAVIOLET AND VISIBLE SPECTROMETER (UVVS) DATA IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN EXISTING MONTE CARLO CODE TO DETERMINE THE OVERALL "BACKGROUND" STRUCTURE OF THE NA AND MG EXOSPHERES (CA HAS BEEN DONE PREVIOUSLY). IN TASK 2, WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE SHORT-TERM TEMPORAL AND SMALL-SCALE SPATIAL ASPECTS OF THE NA, MG, AND CA EXOSPHERES. IN TASK 3, WE WILL USE THE MONTE CARLO CODE TO EXPLORE THE PARAMETER SPACE OF THE SOURCE AND LOSS PROCESSES USING THE DATA AS CONSTRAINTS. WE WILL EXAMINE THE ROLES OF THERMAL ACCOMMODATION, GAS-SURFACE INTERACTIONS, HIGH-ENERGY PROCESSES, AND LOSS PROCESSES IN GENERATING THE OBSERVED EMISSIONS, NOT JUST IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY SPECIFICALLY DO IN GENERATING MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE BUT ALSO IN TERMS OF THE CONSTRAINTS THAT THE UVVS DATA PLACE ON THESE PROCESSES IN GENERAL. THE FINAL OUTCOME OF THIS STUDY WILL NOT ONLY BE A MORE COMPLETE PICTURE OF WHAT MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE LOOKS LIKE BUT ALSO WHY IT LOOKS THAT WAY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR OTHER EXOSPHERES. AS REVEALED BY MESSENGER, MERCURY HAS PERHAPS THE MOST COMPLEX EXOSPHERE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. DURING THE MISSION, UVVS MEASURED NA, MG, AND CA EMISSION DAILY FOR OVER SIXTEEN MERCURY YEARS. THESE SPECIES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO DIFFER DRAMATICALLY FROM ONE ANOTHER BOTH SPATIALLY AND TEMPORALLY. ANALYSES TO DATE, PARTICULARLY FOR NA AND MG, HAVE PRIMARILY EMPLOYED SIMPLE CHAMBERLAIN FITS TO INTERPRET A LIMITED SUBSET OF THE OBSERVATIONS. HOWEVER, THE NATURE OF THE MESSENGER ORBIT AND THE COMPLICATED GEOMETRY OF THE UVVS OBSERVATIONS REQUIRE THE USE OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL MONTE CARLO CODE AND THE EXPLORATION OF ALL THE DATA TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE OBSERVED STRUCTURE. THERE IS STILL MUCH TO BE EXPLOITED IN THE UVVS DATASET, AND DOING SO WILL ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROCESSES BEHIND THIS UNIQUE EXOSPHERE AND PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE EXOSPHERES OF OTHER AIRLESS SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES AND ROCKY EXOPLANETS. METHODOLOGY. TO ACHIEVE OUR OBJECTIVES, WE WILL EXTRACT THE RELEVANT OBSERVATIONS FROM THE PDS AND THEN UTILIZE AN EXISTING MONTE CARLO CODE TO ANALYZE THE FULL UVVS DATASET, WITH A FOCUS ON THE PROCESSES AT WORK. WE WILL INCORPORATE SURFACE COMPOSITION MAPS PUBLISHED BY THE MESSENGER X-RAY AND GAMMA RAY TEAMS TO DERIVE ACCURATE SOURCE RATES, AND WE WILL USE PUBLISHED SOLAR WIND AND PLANETARY ION FLUXES ONTO THE SURFACE TO ESTIMATE SPUTTERING. WE WILL USE OUR CODE TO TRACK THE FLUX BALANCE BETWEEN THE EXOSPHERE AND SURFACE AND TO MATCH THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF EACH SPECIES FOR A GIVEN PRESUMED SOURCE AND LOSS PROCESS TO THE DISTRIBUTION DETERMINED FROM THE UVVS DATA. USE OF A MONTE CARLO CODE ALLOWS US TO CALCULATE VELOCITIES ESSENTIAL TO DETERMINATION OF DOPPLERSHIFT DEPENDENT G-VALUES (SCATTERING EFFICIENCY PER ATOM) USED TO CALIBRATE MODEL COLUMN DENSITY TO INTENSITY ALONG THE LINE OF SIGHT FOR ACCURATE COMPARISON TO THE OBSERVED EMISSIONS. WE WILL EXPLORE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF KNOWN SOURCE PROCESSES (IMPACT VAPORIZATION, PHOTON-STIMULATED DESORPTION, SPUTTERING, ION-STIMULATED DIFFUSION, AND SEQUESTRATION) IN DETAIL. ONLY THROUGH THE COMBINATION OF A DETAILED MODEL AND THE FULL UVVS DATASET AS WE PROPOSE CAN A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF SOURCE AND LOSS PROCESSES IN THE EXOSPHERE BE ACHIEVED. RELEVANCE. THIS WORK IS RELEVANT TO NASA DDAP BECAUSE IT SUPPORTS INVESTIGATIONS THAT INCREASE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN FROM DISCOVERY MISSIONS SUCH AS MESSENGER. STUDIES TO DATE HAVE NOT UTILIZED THE FULL RANGE OF EXOSPHERIC OBSERVATIONS ACQUIRED BY MESSENGER, LEAVING MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. THE INSIGHT INTO EXOSPHERIC PROCESSES GAINED FROM THIS STUDY WILL FIND APPLICATION TO MORE GENERAL STUDIES OF SOLAR SYSTEM AND EXOPLANET EXOSPHERES, MAKING THIS INVESTIGATION OF GREAT VALUE TO THE PLANETARY COMMUNITY. THE PROPOSED ANALYSIS WILL BE A SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENT OF THE OVERALL SCIENTIFIC RETURN FROM MESSENGER.
THIS PROPOSAL IS FOCUSED ON DEVELOPING THE EXPERIMENTAL-RELATIVITY SCIENCE CASE FOR THE LASER INTERFEROMETER SPACE ANTENNA (LISA). WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE TESTS OF GENERAL RELATIVITY WITH LISA GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DATA USING DIFFERENT ASTROPHYSICAL POPULATION MODELS AND ASTROPHYSICAL SOURCES TO FORECAST WHAT WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE ERA OF SPACE-BASED DETECTORS. WE WILL CREATE AND DEVELOP TOOLS TO CARRY OUT CONSISTENCY CHECKS OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY AND TO SEARCH FOR MODIFIED GRAVITY ANOMALIES WITH LISA DATA. WE WILL EXPLORE HOW THE STRENGTH OF THESE TESTS VARIES WITH POPULATION MODELS AND WITH ASTROPHYSICAL SOURCES, MAPPING OUT THE THEORY SPACE THAT WILL BE CONSTRAINABLE WITH LISA. WE WILL ALSO EXPLORE THE STRENGTH OF COMBINING LISA DATA WITH GROUND-BASED GRAVITATIONAL WAVE OBSERVATIONS TO CARRY OUT TESTS OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY WITH MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS. THE PROPOSED WORK IS OF DIRECT RELEVANCE TO NASA'S STRATEGIC MISSION TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE UNIVERSE THROUGH OBSERVATION, AND TO NASA'S MISSION OF DISCOVERY AND KNOWLEDGE. THE REGION OF THE UNIVERSE WHERE GRAVITY IS VERY STRONG AND DYNAMICALLY CHANGING (THE EXTREME GRAVITY UNIVERSE) IS ONE OF THE LAST UNTURNED STONES. THIS IS IN PART BECAUSE EXTREME GRAVITY OBJECTS, LIKE BLACK HOLES, ARE DIFFICULT TO RESOLVE DUE TO THEIR SIZE AND DISTANCE FROM EARTH. NASA'S INVESTMENT IN SPACE-BORNE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE ASTROPHYSICS AS A PARTNER TO ESA IS AIMED AT RESOLVING SUCH OBJECTS AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME, EXPLORING THE EXTREME GRAVITY UNIVERSE IN DETAIL. THE FOCUS OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO AID IN THIS ENDEAVOR BY DEVELOPING THE UNDERSTANDING NEEDED TO EXTRACT THE MOST INFORMATION ABOUT THEORETICAL PHYSICS AND MODIFIED GRAVITY CONSTRAINTS FROM LISA DATA.
THIS PROPOSAL CONTINUES AND EXPANDS ON-GOING EFFORTS TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT NOVEL MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES FOR CHARACTERIZING THE UNSTEADY FLOW IN AXIAL TURBOMACHINES AT UNPRECEDENTED RESOLUTION. THE PRESENTLY USED STEREO-PIV MEASUREMENTS IN A REFRACTIVE INDEX MATCHED FACILITY WILL BE AUGMENTED WITH METHODS FOR MAPPING 3D TIME-RESOLVED VELOCITY AND PRESSURE DISTRIBUTIONS. THESE TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED FOR ELUCIDATING UNSTEADY FLOW PHENOMENA INVOLVING, E.G. ROTOR-STATOR INTERACTIONS, AS WELL AS LARGE SCALE INSTABILITIES, SUCH AS ROTATING STALL. ENHANCED MEANS OF ALLEVIATING THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF ROTATING STALL USING CASING GROOVES WILL BE TESTED AND OPTIMIZED AS WELL. FURTHERMORE, A WEB-ACCESSIBLE DATABASE CONTAINING ALL THE DATA OBTAINED AT JHU WILL BE ESTABLISHED ON NASA-GLENN SERVERS, AND WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY FOR VALIDATING NUMERICAL DATA.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182608 UNITED STATES
Action Type
cooperative agreement
Major Program Code
development and application of advanced measurement techniques for characterizing and controlling fl
GUSTO PHASE A
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION IS TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION IS CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
(A) KEY OBJECTIVES AND THEIR SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE THE KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE PROPOSED WORK ARE TO DETERMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STORM-TIME TOPSIDE IONOSPHERIC AND THERMOSPHERIC VARIATIONS, IDENTIFY THE KEY DRIVERS FOR THESE VARIATIONS AND DETERMINE THEIR RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS SO PHYSICS BASED PREDICTIVE CAPABILITY OF THE STORM-TIME TEC CAN BE IMPROVED. THE TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE IS VERY DYNAMIC, ESPECIALLY DURING STORM TIMES. HOWEVER, DETAILED QUANTITATIVE (WITHIN DATA AND MODEL ERROR LIMITS) UNDERSTANDING OF ITS STORM-TIME BEHAVIOR REMAINS INADEQUATE, ESPECIALLY REGARDING CHANGING ROLES OF THE COMPETING DRIVERS. THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO ADDRESS FOLLOWING SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS THAT ARE CRITICAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE STORM-TIME TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE OVER MID, LOW AND EQUATORIAL LATITUDES. (1) WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE AND THE THERMOSPHERE RESPONSES TO GEOMAGNETIC STORMS UNDER DIFFERENT SOLAR- GEOPHYSICAL CONDITIONS? (2) HOW DO F2-PEAK REGION CONDITIONS AND TOPSIDE MASS FLOWS AFFECT THE STORM-TIME TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE? (3) WHAT ARE THE IMPACTS OF NEUTRAL COMPOSITION AND TEMPERATURE ON THE STORM-TIME TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE? (4) HOW DO STORM-TIME NEUTRAL WINDS AND ELECTRIC FIELDS SHAPE THE TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE? (5) WHAT ARE THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THOSE DRIVERS LISTED IN (2)-(4) TO THE TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE AND TEC VARIATIONS? (B) METHODOLOGY WE WILL ANALYZE COMPREHENSIVE GLOBAL DATA SETS FROM SATELLITE AND GROUND BASED MEASUREMENTS OVER ONE SOLAR CYCLE (2002-2013) USING A IONOSPHERIC ASSIMILATION/REANALYSIS METHOD AND WILL CARRY OUT PHYSICS BASED DIAGNOSTIC SIMULATIONS USING THE TIME-GCM (THERMOSPHERE IONOSPHERE MESOSPHERE ELECTRODYNAMICS GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL) TO ADDRESS THESE QUESTIONS. THESE DATA SETS INCLUDE (PARTIAL LIST): (A) TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE DENSITY, ION COMPOSITION, TEMPERATURE, ELECTRIC FIELD, PLASMA DRIFT AND TOPSIDE TEC FROM SATELLITES (E.G. COSMIC, DMSP, C/NOFS, CHAMP, GRACE, JASON, SACC, METOP-A/B, DEMETER, TERRASAR-X/TANDEM), GROUND BASED INCOHERENT SCATTER RADARS, AND GROUND GNSS RECEIVERS AND IONOSONDES (B) THERMOSPHERE NEUTRAL DENSITY, TEMPERATURE, COMPOSITION AND WIND FROM TIMED, DMSP, GRACE, CHAMP AND GROUND BASED FPIS (C) SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC CONDITIONS FROM TIMED, SDO, WIND, ACE AND WORLD DATA CENTER REPOSITORIES. WE WILL SELECT REPRESENTATIVE STORMS (UP TO 20) AND RUN OUR EXISTING IONOSPHERIC ASSIMILATION/REANALYSIS METHOD TO RECONSTRUCT GLOBAL IONOSPHERIC DENSITY PROFILES FOR THE SELECTED STORMS AND THE QUIET TIMES BEFORE AND AFTER THE STORMS. THE PHYSICS BASED TIME-GCM WILL BE UPDATED (EXTENDING TOPSIDE BOUNDARY ALTITUDE AND USING TOPSIDE FLUX DERIVED FROM DATA AS TOPSIDE BOUNDARY) AND RUN FOR THE STORMS. THE ABOVE FIVE SCIENCE QUESTIONS WILL BE ADDRESSED THROUGH THE GLOBAL DATA ANALYSIS/REANALYSIS AND MODEL RUNS. (C) SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO NASA OBJECTIVES THE EXPECTED RESULTS FROM THE PROPOSED WORK WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE AND THERMOSPHERE AND THEIR COUPLING. THE PROPOSED WORK IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE 2014 NASA LWS TARGETED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY FOCUSED SCIENCE TOPIC 3.1.3 ION-NEUTRAL INTERACTIONS IN THE TOPSIDE IONOSPHERE. THE PROPOSED WORK ALSO SUPPORTS THE NASA HELIOPHYSICS DIVISION OBJECTIVES OF UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTED SUN-EARTH SYSTEM AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUN AND PLANETARY SPACE ENVIRONMENTS AND POTENTIALLY SUPPORTS THE NASAS NEW GOLD AND ICON MISSIONS.
LOW ENERGY COSMIC RAY GROUP SUPPORT (GSFC)
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION S TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS . TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION S CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
CHILDHOOD UNDERNUTRITION IS LINKED TO MORE THAN 50% OF CHILD DEATHS WORLDWIDE. UNDERNUTRITION OF A DEGREE THAT RESULTS IN STUNTING IS ASSOCIATED WITH LIFELONG DEFICITS IN WORK CAPACITY AND COGNITIVE DEFICITS, WITH IMPORTANT SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES FOR INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES. A KEY ASPECT OF MALNUTRITION THAT DOES NOT RECEIVE ADEQUATE ATTENTION IS THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENTERIC DYSFUNCTION, IN WHICH EXPOSURE TO ENTEROPATHOGENS ALTERS INTESTINAL INTEGRITY AND METABOLIC STATE. THIS CONDITION IS WIDESPREAD IN CHILDREN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. IT CAN REDUCE A CHILD S ABILITY TO ABSORB NUTRIENTS, POSING A SIGNIFICANT RISK FACTOR IN ITS OWN RIGHT AND COMPOUNDING RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH UNDERNUTRITION. MORE EFFECTIVE CONTROL OF ENTERIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE (EID), INCLUDING TIMELY DISSEMINATION OF TARGETED VACCINES AND INFRASTRUCTURE AND EDUCATION INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE INFECTION RISK, OFFERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO REDUCE THE GLOBAL BURDEN OF CHILDHOOD MALNUTRITION AND THE LOSS OF HUMAN POTENTIAL ASSOCIATED WITH STUNTING. EID TRANSMISSION IS ENVIRONMENTALLY MEDIATED, AND MANY EID EXHIBIT SOME FORM OF SEASONALITY OR OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY. THIS SUGGESTS A STRONG POTENTIAL FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY-INFORMED RISK MONITORING AND EARLY WARNING, BUT ALMOST NO SUCH SYSTEMS EXIST FOR EID. IN LARGE PART THIS IS BECAUSE IT IS DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN RELIABLE, HIGH FREQUENCY ESTIMATES OF PATHOGEN-SPECIFIC EID INFECTION RATE. WITHOUT THIS INFORMATION IT IS DIFFICULT TO GENERATE OR EVALUATE SKILLFUL MODELS. INDEED, EVEN THE BASIC CHARACTERIZATION OF SEASONALITY, RANGE, TOTAL BURDEN, AND PRIMARY ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITIES IS LACKING FOR MANY IMPORTANT EID PATHOGENS. WITH THIS IN MIND, THE INTERACTIONS OF MALNUTRITION & ENTERIC INFECTIONS: CONSEQUENCES FOR CHILD HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (MAL-ED) ESTABLISHED AN UNPRECEDENTED COORDINATED COHORT STUDY AT SITES IN EIGHT COUNTRIES ACROSS THREE CONTINENTS. THE STUDY TRACKS THE INCIDENCE OF EID EXPOSURE AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN WITH STATE OF THE ART MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS OVER TIME, PAIRED WITH DETAILED FIELD AND LABORATORY ANALYSIS THAT CAN CHARACTERIZE DETAILS ABOUT THE NATURE OF EID AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS. MAL-ED OFFERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE THAT ENVIRONMENT PLAYS IN SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY OF A RANGE OF EID. BUT THE POWER OF MAL-ED IS LIMITED BY LACK OF EMPHASIS ON ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVATION. STUDY SITES ARE NOT ALWAYS NEAR A CONSISTENT AND RELIABLE WEATHER STATION, FOR EXAMPLE, AND THERE IS NO EARTH OBSERVATION (EO) COMPONENT TO LEVERAGE THE DIVERSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ESTIMATES THAT ARE SUPPORTED BY CURRENT SATELLITE PLATFORMS, MODELS, AND DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEMS. MOREOVER, THE MAL-ED SITES ARE POINT LOCATIONS, AND THERE IS NO SYSTEMATIC EFFORT TO IDENTIFY COHERENT REPRESENTATIVE REGIONS THAT MIGHT SHOW CONSISTENT PROFILES IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT, THE INCIDENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF DISEASE CAUSED BY SPECIFIC EID PATHOGENS. TO LEVERAGE THE COMBINED POWER OF MAL-ED AND EO, WE WILL PARTNER WITH THE MAL-ED INVESTIGATOR COMMUNITY TO DEVELOP A DATABASE OF RELEVANT CLIMATE, HYDROLOGY, ECOLOGY, AND HUMAN ACTIVITY AT EACH STUDY SITE. THIS DATABASE WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP STATISTICAL MODELS OF HIGH IMPACT EID, WITH THE GOAL OF INFORMING UNDERSTANDING, MONITORING, AND PREDICTION. WE WILL USE THE GLOBAL COVERAGE AVAILABLE FROM EO TO PERFORM OBJECTIVE REGIONALIZATION OF GLOBAL TROPICAL LAND AREAS ON THE BASES OF SEASONALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS OF SPECIFIC EID. MAL-ED AND COMPLEMENTARY STUDIES WILL BE USED TO TRAIN AND EVALUATE THE REGIONALIZATION. THIS YIELDS A MAP OF ENVIRONMENT-EID RISK PROFILES THAT WILL FORM THE BASIS FOR A GEO MONITOR OF ENTERIC DISEASES (GEO-MED) THAT PROVIDES MAPS OF EID POTENTIAL, NEAR REAL-TIME MONITORING OF ELEVATED RISK, AND PROJECTIONS OF FUTURE EID POTENTIAL. THIS INFORMATION WILL INFORM INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS TO REDUCE CHILDHOOD EID.
SPACE COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND INTEGRATION SUPPORT ISSUED UNDER NNN06AA01C AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) CONTRACT
THE MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (MRO) COMPACT RECONNAISSANCE IMAGING SPECTROMETER FOR MARS (CRISM) TEAM IS DELIVERING TO THE PLANETARY DATA SYSTEM (PDS) TWO SUITES OF HIGH LEVEL DATA PRODUCTS AND VISUALIZATIONS THAT PRESENT THE SURFACE SPECTRAL INFORMATION CONTENT OF CRISM HYPERSPECTRAL TARGETED OBSERVATIONS WITH SYSTEMATIC CORRECTIONS FOR ATMOSPHERIC GAS ABSORPTIONS, AEROSOL SCATTERING, PHOTOMETRIC EFFECTS, AND INSTRUMENT ARTIFACTS. THE CORRECTION OF THESE EFFECTS MAKES THE DATA MUCH MORE ACCESSIBLE TO THE MARS SCIENCE COMMUNITY AS COMPARED TO THE CRISM PDS STANDARD PRODUCT TARGETED REDUCED DATA RECORDS (TRDRS - CALIBRATED SPECTRAL RADIANCE AND REFLECTANCE). TARGETED EMPIRICAL RECORDS (TERS) CONTAIN THE FULLY CORRECTED, FULL SPECTRAL RANGE DATA IN SENSOR SPACE, AND THE MAP-PROJECTED TARGETED REDUCED DATA RECORDS (MTRDRS) ARE MAP PROJECTED TERS WITH BAD BANDS AND SPATIALLY DISCONNECTED FRAMES REMOVED. EACH PRODUCT SUITE INCLUDES CORRECTED I/F DATA, SPECTRAL PARAMETER MAPS, AND EASILY VIEWED BROWSE VERSIONS OF THE DATA. THE MTRDRS ARE PROJECTED USING MRO STANDARDS AND ARE GIS-READY WITH AN ESRI COORDINATE SYSTEM STRING IN EACH PRODUCT HEADER.
CRISM TARGETED OBSERVATIONS USE IMAGE MOTION COMPENSATION TO ENHANCE SNR. THE REQUISITE GIMBAL MOTION INTRODUCES CONTINUOUS VARIATIONS IN THE EMISSION AND PHASE ANGLE GEOMETRY WITH ATTENDANT VARIATIONS IN ATMOSPHERIC PATH LENGTH AND AEROSOL SCATTERING ACROSS THE SCENE. FOR THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF ORBITAL OPERATIONS CRISM TARGETED OBSERVATIONS CONSISTED OF A HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION CENTRAL SCAN AND AN ACCOMPANYING SET OF EMISSION PHASE FUNCTION (EPF) SCANS - SPATIALLY OVERLAPPING, REDUCED SPATIAL RESOLUTION IMAGES ACQUIRED BEFORE AND/OR AFTER THE CENTRAL SCAN USING THE FULL ANGULAR RANGE OF THE GIMBAL. THE EXTENDED ANGULAR SAMPLING PROVIDES THE BASIS FOR A KEY COMPONENT OF THE TER/MTRDR DATA PROCESSING - THE EMPIRICAL GEOMETRIC NORMALIZATION (EGN) PROCEDURE - WHICH MAKES USE OF THE EPFS TO CHARACTERIZE AND CORRECT STRUCTURE IN THE CENTRAL SCAN TRACEABLE TO THE CONTINUOUSLY VARYING GEOMETRY. BEGINNING 10/01/2012 THE CRISM GIMBAL RANGE HAS BEEN RESTRICTED TO AN ASYMMETRIC PORTION OF THE CENTRAL SCAN DUE TO A HARDWARE MALFUNCTION. TARGETED OBSERVATIONS ACQUIRED SINCE DO NOT HAVE ACCOMPANYING EPFS AND DO NOT MEET THE PREREQUISITES OF THE EGN PROCEDURE. THE REDUCED GIMBAL RANGE OBSERVATIONS RELEASED TO THE PDS (ACQUIRED THROUGH 11/08/2017) NOW COMPOSE ~24.3% OF THE CRISM TARGETED OBSERVATION ARCHIVE.
THE PROPOSED ACTIVITY ENTAILS: (1) THE DEVELOPMENT, TESTING, AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A BOOTSTRAP APPROACH TO AN EGN-LIKE CORRECTION FOR TARGETED OBSERVATIONS THAT DO NOT HAVE ACCOMPANYING EPFS. THE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT IS TO ESTABLISH A LOOK-UP TABLE OF CORRECTION FORMS FROM THE ARCHIVE OF TER/MTRDR-PROCESSED OBSERVATIONS. THE MOST APPROPRIATE CORRECTION FORM FOR A GIVEN EPF-LESS OBSERVATION WILL BE IDENTIFIED ACCORDING TO DISCRIMINATING CHARACTERISTICS SUCH AS ATMOSPHERIC STATE, PHASE ANGLE RANGE, SEASON, SOLAR AZIMUTH ANGLE, AND GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION. (2) THE GENERATION OF THE TER/MTRDR DATA PRODUCT SUITE FOR EACH EPF-LESS OBSERVATION FOR WHICH AN APPROPRIATE CORRECTION FORM CAN BE ESTABLISHED. (3) THE VALIDATION OF EACH RESULTANT PRODUCT SET USING THE EXISTING CRISM PDS SPECIAL PRODUCT RELEASE REVIEW SYSTEM. THIS REVIEW AND COMMENTING SYSTEM ALLOWS INADEQUATELY CORRECTED PRODUCTS TO BE INTERCEPTED AND QUALITY FLAGS AND COMMENTS TO BE RECORDED FOR EACH PRODUCT. (4) THE PDS DELIVERY OF THE VALIDATED PRODUCT SET AS AN AUGMENTATION OF THE EXISTING CRISM TER/MTRDR ARCHIVE CURATED AT THE PDS GEOSCIENCES NODE.
THE PROPOSED CRISM DATA PROCESSING DEVELOPMENT EFFORT AND DATA PRODUCT GENERATION, VALIDATION, AND PDS DELIVERY ARE RELEVANT TO THE PDART PROGRAM AS THE PRODUCTS INCORPORATE HIGHER ORDER SPATIAL AND SPECTRAL CORRECTIONS AND INFORMATION CONTENT VISUALIZATIONS THAT WILL IMPROVE THE ACCESSIBILITY AND SCIENTIFIC UTILITY OF THE CRISM HYPERSPECTRAL TARGETED OBSERVATION DATA SET.
THE GALEX ULTRAVIOLET (UV) SKY SURVEYS ARE UNIQUELY SENSITIVE TO CLASSES OF ASTROPHYSICAL OBJECTS SUCH AS HOT STARS, STAR-FORMING GALAXIES, AND Z < 2.4 QSOS. CLEAN CATALOGS OF UV SOURCES (GUVCAT) WERE RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED (BIANCHI ET AL. 2017) WITH ADDED FLAGS TO FACILITATE SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INCLUDING E.G., SELECTION OF UV-SAMPLES, MAPS OF SOURCE DENSITY, LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS, AND MATCHING WITH OTHER DATABASES. THE PROPOSED PROJECT LEVERAGES GUVCAT AND GREATLY AUGMENTS ITS SCOPE AND USEFULNESS. BY MATCHING THE UV-SOURCE CATALOG TO COROLLARY DATABASES AT OTHER WAVELENGTHS, WE WILL CLASSIFY AND CHARACTERIZE BOTH GALACTIC AND EXTRA-GALACTIC UV SOURCES AND EXTRACT SAMPLES OF HOT WHITE DWARFS (WD) FOR OUR SCIENCE PROJECT. WE WILL PUBLICLY DELIVER MATCHED CATALOGS OF UV SOURCES WITH THE LATEST SDSS RELEASE (DR14), GAIA DR2, PANSTARRS 3? PS1 (PROVIDING AN OVERLAP AREA ABOUT 3.6X THAT OF SDSS, AND SOME INDICATION OF VARIABILITY), GSC-II, 2MASS,... WE LEVERAGE PREVIOUS RECIPES AND SCRIPTS FOR EFFECTIVE, FAST PRODUCTION OF THE MATCHED CATALOGS AND USEFUL SCIENCE TAGS. THE UV-SOURCE CATALOGS UNIQUELY ENABLE IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF OBJECTS ELUSIVE IN OTHER SURVEYS, SUCH AS HOT WHITE DWARFS (WD), BOTH SINGLE AND IN BINARY SYSTEMS WITH A COOLER, OPTICALLY-BRIGHTER COMPANION. HOT WDS ARE ELUSIVE AT ALL WAVELENGTHS EXCEPT THE UV, OWING TO THEIR VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES TO WHICH OPTICAL COLORS ARE INSENSITIVE, AND LOW OPTICAL LUMINOSITIES. FROM THE UV-MATCHED CATALOGS WE WILL EXTRACT AN UNBIASED CENSUS OF MILKY WAY HOT WHITE DWARFS. WE EXPECT AN INCREASE BY TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDES OVER KNOWN SAMPLES, BUT, MORE IMPORTANT, TO EXTEND THE PARAMETER SPACE TO THE HIGH T EFF , HIGH-MASS REGIME, THE MOST ELUSIVE AND MOST RELEVANT FOR THE YIELD OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS, AND TO INCLUDE HOT-WD IN BINARIES IN WHICH THE HOT COMPONENT IS UNDETECTABLE WITHOUT UV DATA. OUR SURVEY CAN REACH SMALL, HOT WDS ALL THE WAY OUT TO THE HALO ALONG LOW-EXTINCTION SIGHT-LINES. WE WILL CHARACTERIZE THE UV-SELECTED HOT WDS WITH ANALYSIS OF THEIR OBSERVED SED (AND COROLLARY DATA WHEN AVAILABLE), AS WELL AS ANALYZE THE GLOBAL SAMPLE WITH MILKY WAY MODEL POPULATIONS. OUR ANALYSIS WILL PROVIDE SORELY NEEDED CONSTRAINTS TO POST-AGB STELLAR EVOLUTION, IT WILL CLARIFY STILL UNCERTAIN ASPECTS SUCH AS THE INITIAL-FINAL MASS RELATION, INDISPENSABLE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE YIELD OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS FROM INTERMEDIATE-MASS STARS AND THE CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES. OUR PROJECT WILL ALSO PROVIDE STATISTICS ON THE FRACTION AND PARAMETER DISTRIBUTION OF BINARIES IN EVOLVED STAGES, COMPLEMENTING THE ABUNDANT RECENT STUDIES OF BINARITY FOR STARS IN EARLY EVOLUTIONARY PHASES WITH INFORMATION ON AS-YET UNEXPLORED MASS RANGES AND LATE EVOLUTIONARY PHASES. THE RESULTS WILL INFORM FUTURE STELLAR EVOLUTION MODELS, WHICH IN TURN UNDERPIN POPULATION SYNTHESIS AND CHEMICAL EVOLUTION MODELS. THE SED ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SOURCES AND THE GLOBAL COMPARISON WITH MILKY WAY MODELS WILL ALSO YIELD A MAP OF THE MILKY WAY DUST EXTINCTION, TO WHICH UV DATA ARE ALSO VERY SENSITIVE. THE PROJECT IS TIMELY GIVEN THE READINESS OF OUR UV-SOURCE CATALOG AND COMPLEMENTARY DATA, AND THE RECENT RELEASE OF GAIA DR2, WHICH PROVIDES DISTANCES FOR MOST OF THE UV-SELECTED STELLAR OBJECTS AND ENABLES US TO DERIVE 3D CATALOGS OF THIS OTHERWISE ELUSIVE STELLAR POPULATION. THE COMBINATION ALLOWS US TO BUILD PRECISE POST-AGB H-R DIAGRAMS, ENABLING A MAJOR STEP FORWARD TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING POST-AGB EVOLUTION AND BINARY EVOLUTION. UV-SOURCE CATALOGS WITH MATCHED COROLLARY DATA, SOURCE CLASSIFICATION AND INFERRED PARAMETERS, AS WELL AS ANALYSIS TOOLS AND MODELS COMPUTED FOR THIS PROJECT, WILL BE PUBLICLY RELEASED ON THE PI WEB SITE, AND ON MAST AND SIMBAD/VIZIER PUBLIC DATABASES, FROM WHICH THEY WILL REMAIN PERMANENTLY AND WIDELY ACCESSIBLE AT NO COST TO THIS PROJECT.
UNDER THIS CONTRACT, JHU WILL ACCESS RESTRICTED-USE DATA FROM THE NSFG TO OBTAIN STATE AND COUNTY LEVEL GEOGRAPHIC INDICATORS FOR THE SELF-REPORTED BIRTHS RECORDED IN THE NSFG. THE DATA FROM THESE TWO DATA SOURCES WILL BE USED AS PREDICTORS IN THE E
ROBOTIC SPACE FLIGHT SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION IS TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION IS CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
SCIENCE AND OBSERVATION GAP ANALYSIS FOR THE NASA SPACE WEATHER SCIENCE APPLICATION PROGRAM TASK ORDER UNDER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) II CONTRACT 80MSFC20D0004
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SENIOR REVIEW PANEL, ACTIVITIES DURING THE EXTENDED MISSION WILL FOCUS ON: I) SAFE OPERATION AND DATA COLLECTION OF THE GUVI INSTRUMENT, II) UPGRADING THE DATA PRODUCTS AND DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GUVI ON-LINE DATA, III) INTEGRATING THE MEASUREMENTS FROM THE OTHER TIMED INSTRUMENTS IN THE STUDY OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE, IV) UNDERSTANDING THE WAYS THE DATA CAN FURTHER SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND ITS COUPLING TO THE STRATOSPHERE AND BELOW, V) EXPANDING THE VALIDATION ACTIVITIES, AND VI) PLANNING AND PREPARING FOR THE EVENTUAL ARCHIVE OF THE GUVI DATA.
GEOSPACE DYNAMICS CONSTELLATION (GDC) MISSION CONCEPT STUDY TASK ORDER UNDER THE AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) CONTRACT NNN06AA01C
AFYA KAMILISHA - THE PURPOSE OF THIS MODIFICATION IS TO TERMINATE THE AWARD AND INCREMENTALLY FUND THE AWARD WITH $97,296.60.
ALL OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS REMAIN THE SAME.
WE PROPOSE TO MEASURE THE PROPERTIES OF INTERSTELLAR DUST IN A HOLISITIC MANNER THAT INCORPORATES CONSTRAINTS FROM A DIVERSE RANGE OF STATE-OF-THE-ART OBSERVATIONS. THESE ARE THE DIMMING OF STARLIGHT, INDEPENDENT MEASUREMENTS OF THE PROPERTIES OF STARS, ABSORPTION FROM DIFFUSE INTERSTELLAR BANDS, AND THE MICROWAVE EMISSION OF THE DUST. PREVIOUS MEASUREMENTS OF THE DIMMING OF STARLIGHT, REFERRED TO IN THE LITERATURE AS THE DUST EXTINCTION CURVE, HAVE ASSUMED INTRINSIC PROPERTIES FOR EITHER STARS OR OTHER OBJECTS SELECTED AS CALIBRATORS. THESE ASSUMPTIONS WERE IN TURN OFTEN CALIBRATED BY PRIOR LITERATURE STUDIES WHICH THEMSELVES ASSUMED AN EXTINCTION CURVE. OUR PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL BE THE FIRST TO JOINTLY AND SIMULTANEOUSLY MODEL BOTH SETS OF PARAMETERS. THIS BREAKTHROUGH IS ENABLED BY THE UNPRECEDENTED ABUNDANCE OF PANCHROMATIC PHOTOMETRIC DATA, FROM BOTH NASA-SUPPORTED MISSIONS (GALEX, 2MASS, WISE) AND OTHER COMPLEMENTARY FACILITIES. OUR PLANNED ANALYSIS IS SPLIT INTO FOUR COMPONENTS SPREAD OVER TWO YEARS. WE WILL FIRST JOINTLY MODEL THE EXTINCTION CURVE AND THE COLOR-TEMPERATURE-SURFACE BRIGHTNESS RELATION IN THE 561,000+ BRIGHT, NEARBY, STARS WITH PARALLAXES FROM GAIA, ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETER ESTIMATES FROM GALAH, AND PHOTOMETRY FROM A SLEW OF SURVEYS SPANNING THE ULTRAVIOLET, OPTICAL, AND NEAR-INFRARED WAVELENGTHS. THIS WILL YIELD THE MOST ROBUST MEASURE OF THE DUST EXTINCTION CURVE AND ITS VARIATIONS WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY YIELDING A DEFINITIVE ASSESSMENT OF STELLAR MODELS' RELIABILITY IN PREDICTING THE INTRINSIC COLORS OF STARS. IN THE SECOND PHASE OF OUR PROGRAM, WE WILL COMPARE THESE EXTINCTION MEASUREMENTS TO THE EQUIVALENT WIDTHS OF UP TO 12 DIFFUSE INTERSTELLAR BANDS. THESE HAVE THE PROSPECT OF ENABLING DUST EXTINCTION ESTIMATES THAT ARE INDEPENDENT OF THE PROPERTIES OF THE SOURCE, AND CAN THUS BE APPLIED TO OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE UNEXTINGUISHED COLOR AND BRIGHTNESS ARE NOT KNOWN. IN THE THIRD PHASE, WE WILL EXTEND OUR ANALYSIS TO STARS WITH ASTEROSEISMICALLY DETERMINED RADII IN THE KEPLER AND K2 FIELDS. THIS WILL ENABLE BOTH AN INDEPENDENT VALIDATION OF OUR PRIOR RESULTS, AND MORE PRECISE FUTURE INVESTIGATIONS OF THOSE STARS AND THE PLANETS THAT MANY OF THEM ARE KNOWN TO HOST. FINALLY, WE WILL COMPARE OUR MEASUREMENTS OF DUST EXTINCTION TO THE MICROWAVE EMISSION OF DUST MEASURED BY THE PLANCK SATELLITE, YIELDING THE MOST SENSITIVE STUDY OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DUST EXTINCTION AND EMISSION. THE PARAMETERIZATION OF DUST EXTINCTION IS A PROBLEM FOR MANY AREAS OF MODERN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS. HERE, WE MENTION FOUR EXAMPLES. THE FIRST IS THAT THE PROPERTIES OF DUST EXTINCTION ARE A SENSITIVE FUNCTION OF THE DUST GRAINS THEMSELVES, WHICH CAN INFORM STUDIES OF THE PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY OF INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM FROM WHICH STARS AND EVENTUALLY PLANETS ARE BORN. THE SECOND IS THAT THE EXTINCTION CURVE TOWARD THE INNER MILKY WAY IS PARTICULARLY ANOMALOUS, WHICH IS A SOURCE OF UNCERTAINTY FOR STUDIES OF EXTRASOLAR PLANETS (FROM MICROLENSING), AND THE PROPERTIES OF MANY OF THE OLDEST AND MOST CHEMICALLY PECULIAR STARS IN THE GALAXY. THE THIRD IS THAT EXTINCTION CURVE MEASUREMENTS OF TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE ARE SIGNIFICANTLY OFFSET FROM MEASUREMENTS OF THE EXTINCTION CURVE WITHIN THE MILKY WAY. THAT IS AMONG THE LARGEST SOURCE OF UNCERTAINTY IN THEIR ESTIMATES OF COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETERS, AND IT WOULD BE WORTH KNOWING HOW MUCH OF THE BIAS IS SIMPLY DUE TO AN ERROR IN THE ASSUMPTION OF THE MILKY WAY EXTINCTION CURVE. THESE THREE AREAS ADDRESS KEY NASA PRIORITIES OF HOW THE UNIVERSE FORMED AND EVOLVED, AND THE ORIGINS OF STARS AND LIFE. FINALLY, THIS ANALYSIS WILL AUGMENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE UTILIZED NASA DATASETS. THE PROBLEM OF ACCOUNTING FOR DUST EXTINCTION IS UBIQUITOUS TO THE VARIOUS SUBFIELDS OF ASTRONOMY. THOUGH THE ISSUE IS CHALLENGING, IT IS ALSO TRACTABLE. WITH THE UNPRECEDENTED ABUNDANCE OF AVAILABLE DATA, AND NASA S SUPPORT PERMITTING, WE WILL HAVE THE NECESSARY TOOLS TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE.
CASSINI REVEALED THAT LARGE HYDROCARBONS PRODUCED BY PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS DEEP WITHIN THE TITAN S IONOSPHERE CAN READILY ESCAPE AND IN SOME CASES YIELD COHESIVE FLOW CHANNELS THAT PERSIST FOR SEVERAL DAYS.
ADS-B SURVEILLANCE AND BROADCAST SERVICES, AIRBORNE COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM AND TRAFFIC ALERT AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM PROGRAMS INCREMENTAL FUNDING AND CORRECTION OF POP START DATE TO ALIGN WITH THE TASK ORDER AWARD DATE AND EFFECTIVE DATE
THE IDENTIFICATION AND MAPPING OF MAJOR GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES ON THE MOON HAS PROVIDED INSIGHTS INTO THE PROCESSES THAT DOMINATED LUNAR CRUSTAL EVOLUTION, INCLUDING THE FORMATION OF THE PRIMARY CRUST, EXTENSIVE VOLCANIC RESURFACING, AND IMPACT MODIFICATION. SIMILAR INFORMATION FOR MERCURY CAN REVOLUTIONIZE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THAT WORLD, PARTICULARLY IN THE ABSENCE OF SAMPLES. TO DATE, DATA FROM MESSENGERS GAMMA-RAY AND NEUTRON SPECTROMETER (GRNS) AND X-RAY SPECTROMETER (XRS) HAVE BEEN USED TO IDENTIFY THREE MAJOR GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES ON MERCURY THE NORTHERN TERRANE, MG-RICH TERRANE, AND THE CALORIS BASIN TERRANE. THE DIFFERENCES IN THE GEOCHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS OF THESE REGIONS SUPPORT WIDESPREAD VOLCANIC RESURFACING, AND SEEM TO REQUIRE THE EXISTENCE OF A COMPOSITIONALLY HETEROGENEOUS MANTLE.
MERCURYS GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES WERE IDENTIFIED USING STANDARD SPATIAL RESOLUTION GRNS DATA (FULL-WIDTH HALF MAXIMUM OF ~650 KM), AND TERRANES SMALLER THAN ~1000 KM ACROSS WERE NOT IDENTIFIED. DURING MESSENGERS FINAL YEAR OF ORBITAL OPERATIONS, A CAMPAIGN OF LOW-ALTITUDE OPERATIONS PROVIDED A LARGE DATASET OF<250-KM SPATIAL RESOLUTION GRNS MEASUREMENTS, MUCH WITH RESOLUTIONS OF<100 KM. GRNS NEUTRON DATA WAS ONE OF TWO CRITICAL DISCRIMINATORS FOR IDENTIFYING GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES, AND THE VALUE OF LOW-ALTITUDE NEUTRON DATA WAS RECENTLY DEMONSTRATED BY ITS USE CHARACTERIZING<100-KM-DIAMETER DEPOSITS OF COMPOSITIONALLY DISTINCT IMPACT EJECTA. CURRENT MAPS OF MERCURYS GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES DO NOT INCLUDE THIS LOW-ALTITUDE, HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION DATA.
THIS THREE-YEAR PROJECT SEEKS TO PROVIDE VASTLY IMPROVED MAPS OF MERCURYS GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES THROUGH THREE MAJOR TECHNICAL TASKS: 1) CREATION OF NEW, HIGH-RESOLUTION MAPS OF NEUTRON EMISSION FROM MERCURY S SURFACE USING LOW-LATITUDE GRNS MEASUREMENTS COUPLED WITH IMPROVED SPATIAL PROCESSING TECHNIQUES. 2) COMBINING THE NEW NEUTRON MAPS WITH COMPARABLE XRS MAJOR-ELEMENT MAPS AND NEW AVERAGE ATOMIC MASS MAPS TO IDENTIFY AND MAP GEOCHEMICALLY DISTINCT TERRANES FOLLOWING, AUGMENTED WITH NEW COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES. 3) PETROLOGIC MODELING OF THE MINERALOGY OF THE TERRANES AND CONSTRAINING THEIR MAGMATIC EVOLUTION.
THE NEW COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES WILL FIRST BE TESTED ON LUNAR PROSPECTOR ELEMENT AND NEUTRON MAPS, AS THE MOON ALLOWS FOR BENCHMARKING OF THE TECHNIQUE GIVEN ITS WELL-ESTABLISHED GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES. FOLLOWING THE PRODUCTION OF REVISED MERCURY GEOCHEMICAL TERRANE MAPS, WE WILL INTERPRET THE RESULTS TO FORM A STATE-OF-THE-ART VIEW OF THE GEOCHEMICAL DIVERSITY OF MERCURYS SURFACE, THE CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF MERCURIAN MAGMAS, AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR CRUSTAL FORMATION. ADDITIONALLY, WE WILL EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MERCURYS EXTENSIVE VOLCANIC PLAINS UNITS AND THE GEOCHEMICAL TERRANES.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182680 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
characterizing mercury's geochemical terranes using high spatial resolution messenger datasets.
ROBOTIC SPACE FLIGHT SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION IS TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION IS CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
SUMMARY SUNRISE IS A BALLOON-BORNE SOLAR OBSERVATORY DEDICATED TO THE INVESTIGATION OF THE PHYSICS GOVERNING THE EVOLUTION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND THE CONVECTIVE PLASMA FLOWS IN THE LOWER SOLAR ATMOSPHERE. THESE PROCESSES ARE CRUCIAL FOR OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MAGNETIC ACTIVITY OF THE SUN AND OF THE OUTWARD TRANSPORT OF ENERGY TO HEAT ITS OUTER ATMOSPHERE AND TO FUEL THE ERUPTIONS AND CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS, I.E. PHENOMENA THAT DRIVE SPACE WEATHER. THE SUNRISE OBSERVATORY IS DESIGNED FOR OPERATION IN THE STRATOSPHERE (AT HEIGHTS AROUND 36 KM) TO AVOID THE IMAGE DEGRADATION DUE TO TURBULENCE IN THE EARTH S LOWER ATMOSPHERE AND TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE UV WAVELENGTHS DOWN TO 200NM. A 1-M-DIAMETER TELESCOPE (THE LARGEST SOLAR TELESCOPE FLOWN TO-DATE) FEEDS AN UV IMAGER AND AN IMAGING FILTER MAGNETOGRAPH. SUNRISE WAS FLOWN TWICE, IN JUNE 2009 AND JUNE 2013, DURING PERIODS OF VERY LOW AND HIGH SOLAR ACTIVITY, RESPECTIVELY AND THE OBSERVATIONS RESULTED IN OVER 60 PEERREVIEWED PUBLICATIONS SO FAR. THE 3RD FLIGHT, PROPOSED HERE, WILL INCLUDE SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SUNRISE INSTRUMENTATION, A NEW HIGHLY STABLE GONDOLA, AND A SET OF STRONG SCIENCE OBJECTIVES TO ADDRESS ALL THREE OF NASA S HELIOPHYSICS SCIENCE GOALS IN THE 2014 SCIENCE PLAN. OBJECTIVES THE FIRST TWO SCIENCE FLIGHTS OF SUNRISE HAVE BEEN HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL. HOWEVER, THESE RESULTS HAVE BEEN MAINLY RESTRICTED TO THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE AND BEG THE QUESTION OF WHAT INFLUENCE THE DYNAMICAL AND MAGNETIC PHENOMENA STUDIED IN THE EARLIER SUNRISE FLIGHTS HAVE ON THE HIGHER ATMOSPHERE, IN PARTICULAR THE CHROMOSPHERE. THIS WILL CHANGE WITH THE THIRD SUNRISE FLIGHT, WHICH WILL CARRY INSTRUMENTS TO SAMPLE THE CHROMOSPHERE IN A MULTITUDE OF SPECTRAL LINES OVER A BROAD WAVELENGTH RANGE (300 860 NM). THE INVESTIGATION WILL FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING SCIENCE OBJECTIVES: WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE CHROMOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOLAR REGIONS? HOW WELL IS THIS MAGNETIC STRUCTURE REPRODUCED BY FORCE-FREE EXTRAPOLATIONS FROM THE PHOTOSPHERE? WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR HEATING THE SUN'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE, FIELD LINE BRAIDING OR (MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC) WAVE FLUX? HOW IS MAGNETIC FLUX REMOVED FROM THE SURFACE OF THE SUN? HOW IMPORTANT IS MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN THIS RESPECT? METHODOLOGY FOR ITS THIRD FLIGHT, SUNRISE WILL CARRY TWO NEW INSTRUMENTS AND A MAJOR UPGRADE OF ONE OF ITS CURRENT INSTRUMENTS. THE NEW INSTRUMENTS ARE A NOVEL UV SPECTROPOLARIMETER (TO BE BUILT BY MPS) TO EXPLORE AND EXPLOIT THE EXCITING BUT, DUE TO ITS POOR ACCESSIBILITY FROM THE GROUND, VERY POORLY STUDIED SPECTRAL RANGE BETWEEN 300 AND 420 NM AND A VISIBLE-INFRARED SPECTROPOLARIMETER TO BE BUILT JOINTLY BY NAOJ AND ISAS IN JAPAN, MPS AND IAA IN SPAIN. THE IMAGING MAGNETOGRAPH, IMAX, WILL BE UPGRADED TO GREATLY INCREASE ITS SPEED AND TO ALLOW IT TO ACCESS MULTIPLE SPECTRAL LINES (COMPARED WITH A SINGLE ONE SO FAR). THE BALLOON WILL BE LAUNCHED FROM ESRANGE SPACE CENTER IN KIRUNA, SWEDEN WITH EXPECTED FLIGHT DURATION OF 7 DAYS AROUND THE SUMMER SOLSTICE IN 2020. THE MISSION IS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN APL, (USA), MPS (GERMANY), NAOJ (JAPAN) AND IAA (SPAIN). THIS PROPOSAL WILL FUND THE USA CONTRIBUTION TO THE SUNRISE COLLABORATION. THIS CONTRIBUTION INCLUDES: BUILDING AND FLYING THE STABLE OBSERVING PLATFORM (THE GONDOLA AND ALL ITS SUBSYSTEMS), PROVIDE COORDINATION FOR A JOINT OBSERVING CAMPAIGN WITH THE 4-M APERTURE DKIST GROUND BASED SOLAR TELESCOPE, AND THE USA PARTICIPATION IN SCIENCE OBJECTIVES DEFINITIONS AND OBSERVATIONS PLANNING, AS WELL AS POST FLIGHT DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, AND RESULTS PUBLICATIONS.
THE PROPOSED WORK SEEKS TO PROVIDE NEW INSIGHT INTO THESE MAJOR SCIENCE QUESTIONS: 1) WHAT WERE THE COMPOSITIONS OF METALLIC CORES IN THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM? 2) WHY WERE CORE COMPOSITIONS DIFFERENT IN THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM? THE PROPOSED WORK UTILIZES BOTH GEOCHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS AND MODELING TO ADDRESS THESE OBJECTIVES THROUGH THREE MAIN TASKS: 1) CONSTRAINING MERCURY S CORE COMPOSITION 2) INVESTIGATING ASTEROID CORES WITH COMPOSITIONS IN THE FE-NI-S-P SYSTEM 3) MODELING THE P-RICH IIG IRON METEORITE PARENT BODY CORE. INDIVIDUALLY, EACH TASK PROVIDES NEW DATA AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE FORMATION AND COMPOSITION OF A METALLIC CORE. TAKEN TOGETHER, THE FORMATION AND COMPOSITION OF METALLIC CORES ACROSS THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM CAN BE COMPARED, ENABLING NEW UNDERSTANDING INTO THIS FUNDAMENTAL PROCESS. RELEVANCE AND SIGNIFICANCE TO NASA PROGRAM: THE EMERGING WORLDS PROGRAM AIMS TO "UNDERSTAND THE FORMATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM" AND SPECIFICALLY INCLUDES THE BULK PROPERTIES OF SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES, LARGE-SCALE CHEMICAL FRACTIONATION PROCESSES, THE CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ANCIENT MATERIALS (INCLUDING ASTEROIDS), AND GLOBAL DIFFERENTIATION. THE PROPOSED WORK FOCUSES ON DETERMINING THE BULK CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF METALLIC CORES TO UNDERSTAND DIFFERENCES DURING GLOBAL DIFFERENTIATION IN THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ANCIENT IRON METEORITES, AND HENCE IS RELEVANT TO THE EMERGING WORLDS PROGRAM. THE PROPOSED WORK INVOLVES MODELING INVESTIGATIONS AND LABORATORY STUDIES, BOTH OF WHICH ARE SPECIFICALLY INCLUDED IN THE EMERGING WORLDS PROGRAM.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182680 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
investigating the formation and bulk composition of metallic cores in the early solar system
JOHNS HOPKINS APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY (JHU/APL) WILL PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR THE DRAGONFLY MISSION. DRAGONFLY IS A PROPOSED NEW FRONTIERS MISSION TO SEND A RELOCATABLE LANDER TO SATURN'S MOON TITAN. APL WILL FUND ITS TECHNICAL PARTNERS AND NON-GOVERNMENT SCIENCE TEAM COINVESTIGATORS THROUGH SUBCONTRACTS. ALL EFFORT BY NASA CENTER PARTNERS (GSFC, AMES, LANGLEY, AND JPL) WILL BE FUNDED THROUGH INTER-AGENCY TRANSFERS. THE PRIMARY FOCUS ON THE WORK IS THE INITIATION OF THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE DRAGONFLY SPACECRAFT, INITIATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GROUND SYSTEM, CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENCE INSTRUMENTS (DRAGMET, DRAGNS, DRAGONCAM, AND DRAMS/DRACO), INITIATION OF DEVELOPMENT OF DETAILED MISSION DESIGN PLAN AND INITIATION OF WORK TOWARDS ACHIEVING NEPA COMPLIANCE AND LAUNCH APPROVAL.
MARS-MOON EXPLORATION WITH GAMMA RAYS AND NEUTRONS (MEGANE) PHASE C/D - TASK ORDER UNDER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) II CONTRACT 80MSFC20D0004
GEOSPACE DYNAMICS CONSTELLATION (GDC) MISSION CONCEPT STUDY TASK ORDER UNDER THE AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) CONTRACT NNN06AA01C
WE WILL CREATE HIGHER ORDER DATA PRODUCTS FOR THE ENERGETIC PARTICLE DATA FROM THE GALILEO MISSION'S ENERGETIC PARTICLE DETECTOR (EPD) INSTRUMENT. THE OUTCOME OF THIS EFFORT WILL BE SOPHISTICATED PRODUCTS THAT CAN BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH FUTURE MISSIONS TO JUPITER (JUNO, JUICE, EUROPA CLIPPER), AND WILL INCLUDE:
1. CALIBRATED INTENSITIES. THE CONVERSION FROM INSTRUMENT COUNTS TO PHYSICALLY MEANINGFUL INTENSITIES IS NOT STRAIGHTFORWARD (REQUIRES THE LATEST CALIBRATION AND CORRECTIONS FOR BACKGROUND AND DETECTOR SATURATION) AND HAS BEEN REFINED OVER TIME.
2. MAGNETIC FIELD MAPPING (EFFECTIVE L-SHELLS AND EQUATORIAL PITCH ANGLES). SINCE ENERGETIC CHARGED PARTICLES ORGANIZE THEMSELVES RELATIVE TO THE MAGNETIC FIELD THEIR DATA NEEDS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH AN APPROPRIATE COORDINATE SYSTEM. SUCH MAPPING IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN ORDER TO COMPARE GALILEO (ORBITED AT THE EQUATOR) WITH FUTURE JUNO DATA (WILL GO THROUGH HIGH LATITUDE).
3. SPECTRAL PARAMETERS. SPECTRA AT HIGH ENERGIES WERE MEASURED WITH LOW RESOLUTION. INFORMATION ON THE HIGHEST ENERGIES IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE RADIATION ASSESSMENT OF FUTURE MISSIONS. WE WILL RECOVER THE HIGH ENERGY INFORMATION USING OUR KNOWLEDGE ON THE INSTRUMENT RESPONSE.
4. DENSITY AND PRESSURE. IT IS KNOWN FROM SIMILAR WORK AT SATURN THAT ENERGETIC PARTICLES MAKE UP AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE PRESSURE . OUR NEWLY CREATED DATA PRODUCTS WILL SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND THE STUDY OF THIS AT JUPITER.
5. SPECIES SEPARATION. MANY EPD MEASUREMENTS CAPTURED TOTAL IONS WHILE STUDIES ON THE MAGNETOSPHERIC PROCESSES REQUIRE INFORMATION ON THE ION SPECIES. WE WILL RECOVER SPECIES INFORMATION BY COMBINING SPECIES-RESOLVED WITH TOTAL-ION DATA.
IN ORDER TO MAKE OUR DATA PRODUCTS USABLE, WE WILL PRODUCE DOCUMENTATION IN THE FORM OF A DATA USER GUIDE DESCRIBING THE CALIBRATIONS APPLIED TO THE RAW DATA AS WELL AS ANY CAVEATS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN USING THE DATA. PLOTS SHOWING TYPICAL EXAMPLES AND COMMON INSTRUMENTAL EFFECTS WILL ALSO BE INCLUDED.
THE NEWLY CREATED DATA PRODUCTS AND DATA USER GUIDE WILL BE PREPARED ACCORDING TO PLANETARY DATA SYSTEM (PDS) STANDARDS AND WILL BE SUBMITTED FOR PDS PEER REVIEW, AFTER WHICH THEY WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE PLANETARY PLASMA INTERACTIONS (PPI) NODE OF THE PDS.
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT TIME TO BE PRODUCING HIGHER ORDER ENERGETIC PARTICLE DATA PRODUCTS FOR JUPITER. THE JUNO MISSION ARRIVES IN AUGUST 2016 AND WILL BE INTERESTED IN COMPARING RESULTS WITH GALILEO. ALSO, THE PLANNING EFFORTS FOR FUTURE JUPITER-BASED MISSIONS (EUROPA CLIPPER AND JUICE) WILL BENEFIT FROM KNOWING PARTICLE INTENSITIES IN THE JOVIAN ENVIRONMENT. CONTINUED ANALYSIS OF THE EPD DATA HAS RESULTED IN IMPROVED CALIBRATION AND DATA CLEANING PROCEDURES OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS, HOWEVER, THE INSTRUMENT TEAM EXPERTISE NECESSARY FOR FULLY CALIBRATING AND CLEANING THE EPD DATA WILL NOT BE AROUND FOREVER, SO IT IS IMPORTANT TO CREATE THESE HIGHER ORDER PRODUCTS WHILE WE STILL CAN.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182680 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
higher order products for galileo/epd energetic particles
WE PROPOSE A STATE-OF-THE-ART RESEARCH PROGRAM TO INVESTIGATE THE DYNAMICS OF TRANSIENT AND QUIESCENT SOLAR WIND STRUCTURES USING DATA FROM NASA S STEREO MISSION IN ORDER TO ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR EFFECTS ON EARTH S NEAR-SPACE ENVIRONMENT. THE PROGRAM AIMS TO IMPROVE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN FROM THE STEREO MISSION, IN PARTICULAR, AND FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS SYSTEMS OBSERVATORY (HSO), IN GENERAL. IT DRAWS UPON THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR S (PI) 17-YEAR EXPERIENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT, OPERATIONS, AND DATA ANALYSIS OF THE LASCO AND SECCHI INSTRUMENTS AND HIS 10-YEAR SCIENCE AS THE SECCHI PROJECT SCIENTIST.
THE PROPOSED EFFORT EXTENDS OVER A 3-YEAR PERIOD AND CONSISTS OF (1) BASIC RESEARCH USING STEREO OBSERVATIONS AND, (2) SCIENCE SUPPORT FOR THE STEREO TEAM. THE BASIC RESEARCH EXPLORES THE ORIGIN OF SMALL-SCALE SOLAR WIND AND THE EVOLUTION OF CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS (CMES) IN THE HELIOSPHERE. THE SCIENCE SUPPORT USES THE RESULTS OF THE AFORE-MENTIONED RESEARCH (AS WELL AS PAST RESULTS) TO SUPPORT THE STEREO TEAM IN OUTREACH AND SENIOR REVIEW PROPOSAL EFFORTS, PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE RESEARCH, AND THE DEPLOYMENT OF A NEW PUBLIC WEBSITE WITH SECCHI RAW AND HIGHER LEVEL DATA PRODUCTS.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182680 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
a comprehensive program to uncover the dynamics of solar eruptions and of the solar wind in support
THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY WILL OFFER NEW INSIGHT INTO HOW MAGNETIC SWITCHBACKS ARE CREATE, EVOLVE, AND ARE LINKED TO SPACECRAFT CONNECTIVITY TO SPECIFIC SOLAR MAGNETIC TOPOLOGIES.
WHILE THE EVIDENCE HAS GROWN TO SUPPORT THE PRESENCE OF WATER ICE ON MERCURY, IMPORTANT QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT THE AGE, SOURCE, EMPLACEMENT, AND MIGRATION OF THE POTENTIAL WATER ICE. THE PROPOSED WORK SEEKS TO PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS INTO UNDERSTANDING THESE MAJOR QUESTIONS RELATED TO MERCURY S LIKELY WATER ICE DEPOSITS: WHEN WERE MERCURY S RADAR-BRIGHT DEPOSITS EMPLACED, AS ANCIENT MATERIALS OR AS RECENT ADDITIONS? WHAT CONSTRAINTS CAN BE PLACED ON THE SOURCE OF MERCURY S RADAR-BRIGHT DEPOSITS? WHAT INSIGHTS CAN BE GAINED FOR THE EVOLUTION OF MERCURY S RADAR-BRIGHT DEPOSITS, SUCH AS MIGRATION OF MATERIALS? THE PROPOSED WORK UTILIZES THE ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM THE DISCOVERY PROGRAM MESSENGER MISSION, SPECIFICALLY FROM THE MERCURY DUAL IMAGING SYSTEM (MDIS) AND THE MERCURY LASER ALTIMETER (MLA). ALL DATA PROPOSED FOR USE ARE IN THE PDS. THREE MAIN TASKS ARE PROPOSED: TASK 1:MAPPING SHADOWED REGIONS. MDIS IMAGES AND THE MLA-BASED DEM WILL BE USED TO DETERMINE REGIONS OF PERSISTENT SHADOW NEAR MERCURY S NORTH POLE. A MAP OF SHADOWED REGIONS PROVIDES A FOUNDATION FOR ALL OTHER RESEARCH OF MERCURY S RADAR-BRIGHT CRATERS. TASK 2: SMALL RADAR-BRIGHT CRATERS. USING MDIS AND MLA DATA, THE LOCATIONS AND SHAPES OF SMALL (5-10 KM DIAMETER) CRATERS THAT DO AND DO NOT HOST RADAR-BRIGHT DEPOSITS WILL BE MEASURED. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SMALL RADAR-BRIGHT CRATERS PROVIDES UNIQUE CONSTRAINTS ON THE AGE, EMPLACEMENT, AND EVOLUTION OF THE WATER ICE ON MERCURY. TASK 3: SURFACE MORPHOLOGY OF RADAR-BRIGHT MATERIAL. THE ANALYSIS OF LONG EXPOSURE MDIS BROADBAND IMAGES CAN REVEAL THE SURFACE MORPHOLOGY OF RADAR-BRIGHT MATERIALS. THE FIRST RESULTS FROM THESE IMAGES HAVE SHOWN REGIONS WITH HIGH AND LOW REFLECTANCE RELATIVE TO THE NEIGHBORING SURFACES. ANALYZING THE SURFACE TEXTURE AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE DEPOSITS CAN PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE AGE AND NATURE OF MERCURY S POLAR VOLATILE DEPOSITS. THE COMPLETION OF THESE THREE TASKS WILL PROVIDE NEW INSIGHT INTO UNDERSTANDING THE SOURCE, AGE, EMPLACEMENT, AND MIGRATION OF MERCURY S LIKELY WATER ICE DEPOSITS, HAVING A VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC IMPACT AND ADVANCING THE STATE OF KNOWLEDGE.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182680 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
investigations of craters that host radar-bright deposits on mercury
OBJECTIVES: ALTHOUGH MERCURY S EXOSPHERE HAS BEEN KNOWN TO EXIST SINCE THE TIME OF THE MARINER 10 FLYBYS FORTY YEARS AGO, THE DIFFICULTY OF MAKING OBSERVATIONS OF THE MERCURIAN EXOSPHERE HAS LED TO LIMITED DATA AND RAISED MANY PUZZLING QUESTIONS REGARDING ITS ORIGIN, COMPOSITION, STRUCTURE, VARIABILITY, AND MAINTENANCE. WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGER SPACECRAFT, THE MERCURY ATMOSPHERIC AND SURFACE COMPOSITION SPECTROMETER (MASCS) HAS PROVIDED OUR MOST DETAILED LOOK YET AT THE EXOSPHERE OF THE INNERMOST PLANET, AND WE CAN BEGIN THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS. THE OVERARCHING OBJECTIVE OF OUR RESEARCH IS TO INVESTIGATE THE HYDROGEN (H) AND OXYGEN (O) EXOSPHERES OF MERCURY. TO ACHIEVE THIS OBJECTIVE, WE WILL ANALYZE THE H AND O EMISSIONS OBSERVED BY THE MASCS INSTRUMENT ON MESSENGER DURING THE ORBITAL PHASE OF THE MISSION. OBSERVATIONS OF THE H AND O EMISSION IN MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE ARE POWERFUL PROBES OF THE INTERACTION OF THE SOLAR WIND AND MAGNETOSPHERIC PARTICLES WITH MERCURY S SURFACE. THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE H IN MERCURY S EXOSPHERE ORIGINATES IN THE SOLAR WIND, AND AS SUCH PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO THE MECHANISMS BY WHICH SOLAR WIND PROTONS INTERACT WITH THE REGOLITH OF AIRLESS BODIES SUCH AS MERCURY, THE MOON, AND ASTEROIDS. UNDERSTANDING HOW H BEHAVES IS THUS IMPORTANT IN UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSES BEHIND SPACE WEATHERING OF SOLAR SYSTEM SURFACES. ON THE OTHER HAND, O IN MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE DERIVES PRIMARILY FROM SURFACE MATERIALS THROUGH SEVERAL POSSIBLE PATHWAYS, THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF WHICH IS UNKNOWN. UNDERSTANDING THE O EXOSPHERE AT MERCURY PROVIDES CLUES TO WHICH OF THESE PROCESSES IS DOMINANT AND INFORMS OUR KNOWLEDGE OF HOW O IS EXTRACTED FROM ROCKY MATERIALS IN SPACE. ALTHOUGH H AND O ARE CRITICAL SPECIES IN SEVERAL WAYS, OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THEM IN MERCURY S EXOSPHERE HAS HAD TO WAIT FOR MESSENGER BECAUSE THE H AND O EMISSIONS ARE WEAK AND AT ULTRAVIOLET WAVELENGTHS, BOTH OF WHICH REQUIRE AN INSTRUMENT IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE PLANET. METHODOLOGY: OUR PROPOSED INVESTIGATION (MAY 1, 2015 APRIL 30, 2018) CONSISTS OF THREE PRIMARY TASKS: 1) GENERATE EXOSPHERIC H AND O DENSITIES FROM OBSERVED EMISSIONS, 2) DETERMINE THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL VARIABILITY, AND 3) IDENTIFY THE SOURCE AND LOSS PROCESSES INVOLVED. THE DRIVING MOTIVATION BEHIND THESE TASKS IS NOT ONLY TO REVEAL THE H AND O EXOSPHERES OF MERCURY BUT ALSO TO ADDRESS SEVERAL OF THE OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS REGARDING MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE, INCLUDING 1) DOES THE H LYMAN ALPHA EMISSION REALLY ORIGINATE FROM A TWO-COMPONENT ("WARM" AND "COLD") DISTRIBUTION, AND IF SO, WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE "COLD" COMPONENT?, 2) WHY IS THE EXOSPHERIC ABUNDANCE OF O RELATIVE TO NA NOT IN A 1:1 CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE REGOLITH ABUNDANCES?, AND 3) WHAT PROCESSES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE VARIABILITY OBSERVED IN BOTH EXOSPHERIC ABUNDANCES AND SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY? THESE QUESTIONS ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO UNDERSTANDING NOT ONLY THE EXOSPHERE OF MERCURY BUT ALSO THE EXOSPHERES OF AIRLESS BODIES THROUGHOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM. RELEVANCE: THE PROPOSED EFFORT IS HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT TO NASA'S STRATEGIC PLAN. BEYOND THE OBVIOUS INCREASES IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE IS AN EXCELLENT TESTBED FOR STUDYING THE MECHANISMS OF SPACE WEATHERING. UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSES AFFECTING H AND O ALSO PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO THEIR POTENTIAL USE AS RESOURCES FOR FUTURE SPACECRAFT EXPLORATION. AT THE SAME TIME, THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION MEETS THE GOALS OF NASA S DISCOVERY DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM IN THAT IT MAKES "SIGNIFICANT USE OF (OR GREATLY ENHANCE THE USE OF) DATA RETURNED BY" THE MESSENGER MISSION. BY INVESTIGATING THESE IMPORTANT BUT DIFFICULT SPECIES TO OBSERVE, ANALYZE, AND UNDERSTAND, WE WILL ADD TO THE LEGACY OF THE MESSENGER MISSION AND, THROUGH ARCHIVAL OF THE RESULTS IN THE PDS, PROVIDE THE PLANETARY SCIENCE AND HELIOPHYSICS COMMUNITIES AT LARGE WITH ACCESS TO SCIENTIFICALLY USEFUL DATA THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE UNAVAILABLE.
Place of Performance
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 212182680 UNITED STATES
Action Type
grant for research
Major Program Code
messenger observations of hydrogen and oxygen: investigating mercury's exosphere and the iph
LUNAR DUST CONSISTS OF ROCK PULVERIZED AND WELDED BY FREQUENT MICROMETEOROID IMPACTS, AND THE RESULTING AGGLUTINATES ARE SHARP AND JAGGED IRREGULAR FINE PARTICLES WITH UNIQUE MECHANICAL AND ELECTROSTATIC PROPERTIES. THEIR UBIQUITOUS PRESENCE POSES
ONE OF THE CRITICAL GRAND CHALLENGES OF HELIOPHYSICS TODAY IS UNDERSTANDING AND ULTIMATELY PREDICTING THE DYNAMICS OF STORMTIME GEOSPACE THE NEAR-EARTH SPACE ENVIRONMENT SPANNING ALTITUDES FROM A FEW TENS TO MILLIONS OF KILOMETERS.
DR. LARS K.S. DALDORFF WILL WORK WITH DR. JAMES A. KLIMCHUK WHO IS AT NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER ON THE SIMULATION OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION WITH THE SPECIFIC GOAL OF UNDERSTANDING THE ONSET CONDITIONS AT THE START OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION. THIS WORK HAS IMPLICATIONS ON HOW MUCH ENERGY IS TAKEN FROM THE MAGNETIC FIELD TO HEAT UP THE PLASMA IN THE SUN S CORONA AS WELL AS IN FLARES, JETS AND CORONAL MASS EJECTION WHICH IN TURN HAS IMPLICATIONS ON SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION. CURRENT EFFORTS WILL FOCUS ON TWO PARTS.
ONSET OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION: THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF RECONNECTION ONSET BY SIMULATING INDIVIDUAL CURRENT SHEETS, STARTING WITH THE SIMPLEST POSSIBLE SITUATION AND ADDING INCREASING LEVELS OF REALISM. OUR ULTIMATE SIMULATION WILL INCLUDE A THERMALLY AND GRAVITATIONALLY STRATIFIED ATMOSPHERE, PHOTOSPHERIC DRIVING, AND PARTIAL IONIZATION. AND A SECOND PART
COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR: UNDERSTANDING THE COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR THAT GIVES RISE TO LOOPS IS A CRUCIAL ASPECT OF THE CORONAL HEATING PROBLEM. WE WILL PERFORM 3D MHD SIMULATIONS OF COLLECTIONS OF TWISTED AND TANGLED MAGNETIC FLUX TUBES TO INVESTIGATE HOW THEY BECOME UNSTABLE AND INTERACT WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS, PERHAPS CREATING AN AVALANCHE OF RECONNECTION EVENTS. THE COMPLETED WORK WILL BE SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION IN REFEREED JOURNAL AT THE END OF 2019. IN 2020 THE PROJECT WILL BE STUDYING THE COUPLING BETWEEN THE SUN S CHROMOSPHERE AND CORONA.
VAN ALLEN PROBE PHASE E EXTENDED MISSION
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION IS TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION IS CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
DURING GEOMAGNETIC STORMS A LARGE VOLUME OF IONS IS TRANSPORTED FROM THE MAGNETOTAIL DEEP INTO THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE LEADING TO ION ACCELERATION TO THE ENERGIES OF TENS TO HUNDREDS KEV. ENERGIZED IONS BECOME THE DOMINANT SOURCE OF PLASMA PRESSURE IN THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE. ION ACCELERATION AND TRANSPORT FROM THE TAIL INTO THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE CAN OCCUR AT DIFFERENT SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL SCALES RANGING FROM GLOBAL QUASI-STEADY CONVECTION TO LOCALIZED IMPULSIVE INJECTION EVENTS. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO ADVANCE THE PHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THESE MULTI-SCALE PROCESSES. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING SCIENCE QUESTIONS:
SQ1 INJECTION PROPERTIES. HOW DEEP INTO THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE CAN LOCALIZED ION INJECTIONS PENETRATE? WHAT ARE THEIR PROPERTIES (SPATIAL EXTENT, MAXIMUM ENERGY, ION COMPOSITION)? HOW DO THE INJECTION PROPERTIES DEPEND ON GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY AS MEASURED BY GLOBAL INDICES (DST, AL) AND THE LEVEL OF SOLAR WIND DRIVING?
SQ2 ACCELERATION MECHANISMS. WHAT ARE THE MAGNETOTAIL SOURCE POPULATIONS (I.E., LOCATION, ENERGY, PITCH-ANGLE DISTRIBUTION) OF ENERGETIC IONS IN THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE? WHAT ARE THE RELATIVE ROLES OF THE ADIABATIC AND NON-ADIABATIC MECHANISMS IN THE ACCELERATION OF DIFFERENT ION SPECIES (H, HE, O)?
SQ3 RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS. WHAT ARE THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF GLOBAL MAGNETOSPHERIC CONVECTION AND LOCALIZED INJECTIONS IN THE BUILDUP OF STORM-TIME RING CURRENT? THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS BUILT ON THE SYNERGY BETWEEN DATA ANALYSIS OF ENERGETIC ION ACCELERATION AND TRANSPORT AND STATE-OF-THE-ART MODELING TECHNIQUES.
TO QUANTIFY INJECTION PROPERTIES WE WILL USE ENERGETIC ION MEASUREMENTS WITH THE COMPOSITION (H: 10-600 KEV, HE: 70-1 MEV, O: 40 KEV - 1 MEV) FROM THE RBSPICE INSTRUMENT OF THE TWIN SPACECRAFT VAN ALLEN PROBES MISSION. USING A LARGE DATABASE (>100) OF INJECTIONS ON RBSPICE WE WILL CATALOGUE THE FOLLOWING PROPERTIES: (1) THE MLT AND L OF THE INJECTION SITE (2) ION COMPOSITION (3) THE MAXIMUM ENERGY OF EACH ION SPECIES (4) THE PARTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO PLASMA PRESSURE (4) THE GEOMAGNETIC CONDITIONS PARAMETERIZED BY THE STORM (DST INDEX) AND THE SUBSTORM ACTIVITY (AL INDEX) (5) THE LEVEL OF THE SOLAR WIND DRIVING MEASURED BY THE SOLAR WIND CONVECTION ELECTRIC FIELD (VBS).
A GLOBAL MHD-RING CURRENT MODEL (LFM-RCM) WILL BE USED FOR SIMULATING THE ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH GLOBAL MAGNETOSPHERIC CONVECTION AND SMALL-SCALE LOCALIZED INJECTIONS. A THREE-DIMENSIONAL TEST-PARTICLE APPROACH IN THE MHD-SIMULATED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS WILL BE USED FOR THE DETAILED ANALYSIS OF ION ACCELERATION. FIRST, WE WILL RUN A SERIES OF BACKWARD TEST-PARTICLE SIMULATIONS TO IDENTIFY THE LOCATION AND PROPERTIES OF ION SOURCE POPULATIONS IN THE MAGNETOTAIL. THEN, TO IDENTIFY THE RELATIVE ROLES OF ADIABATIC AND NON-ADIABATIC MECHANISMS IN THE ACCELERATION OF DIFFERENT ION SPECIES WE WILL CONDUCT FORWARD TEST-PARTICLE SIMULATIONS USING THE FULL LORENTZ FORMULATION AS WELL AS THE GUIDING-CENTER APPROXIMATION AND COMPARE THEIR RESULTS WITH ION SPECTRA OBSERVED BY RBSPICE. FINALLY, WE WILL DETERMINE THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF GLOBAL CONVECTION AND LOCALIZED INJECTIONS TO THE BUILDUP OF RING CURRENT PRESSURE BY CONDUCTING FORWARD TEST-PARTICLE SIMULATIONS IN (A) TIME-AVERAGED CONVECTION FIELDS AND (B) IN THE UNATTENUATED FIELDS, WHICH ACCOUNT FOR BOTH GLOBAL CONVECTION AND LOCALIZED TRANSIENT EVENTS. SIMULATION RESULTS WILL BE USED TO COMPUTE TOTAL ION PRESSURE IN INNER MAGNETOSPHERE. THIS WILL PROVIDE CLOSURE OVER THE GOALS OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO GOALS 2 AND 4 OF THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY: DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE, IONOSPHERE, AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS AND DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE .
WFIRST SCIENCE INVESTIGATION TEAMS AND ADJUTANT SCIENTISTS
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN SPACE AND EARTH SCIENCES-2015 (ROSES-2015) NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT (NRA) NNH15ZDA001N-WFIRST WAS ISSUED ON JULY 17, 2015. THIS NRA SOLICITED PROPOSALS FOR SCIENCE INVESTIGATION TEAMS (SITS) FOR THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY TELESCOPE (WFIRST), WHICH RESULTED IN THE FORMATION OF A FORMULATION SCIENCE WORKING GROUP (FSWG) FOR THE MISSION. IN ADDITION TO THE WFIRST SITS, THE CALL SOLICITED INDIVIDUALS TO SERVE AS ADJUTANT SCIENTISTS FOR THE WFIRST WIDE-FIELD INSTRUMENT (WFI) AND FOR THE WFIRST CORONAGRAPH INSTRUMENT (CGI).
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL CONDUCT CASE STUDIES TO DEVELOP CANDIDATE DATA RETRIEVAL, QUERY, AND ANALYSIS TOOL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE WFIRST ARCHIVE.
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DELIVER THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS DEVELOPED DURING THE COURSE OF THESE CASE STUDIES:
O A HIGH LEVEL UNIFIED OBJECT CATALOG ACROSS MULTIPLE DATASETS
O END-TO-END SIMULATIONS FROM COSMOLOGY TO GRISM SPECTRA INTEGRATED WITH THE DATABASE
O PARALLEL CROSS MATCHING TOOLS SCALING TO BILLIONS OF OBJECTS
O HIGH LEVEL ANGULAR SPATIAL CROSS CORRELATION TOOLS USING ADVANCED SCRIPTING
O TOOLS FOR PRECISE TRACKING OF FOOTPRINT OVERLAPS AND TRACKING EDGE EFFECT
O COMPLEX FEATURE VECTORS OVER THE UNIFIED CATALOG
O AN ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION SCHEME ON TOP OF THE UNIFIED CATALOG
O A DOCUMENT DESCRIBING FORMAL REQUIREMENTS, BEST PRACTICES, IMPACT OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND LESSONS LEARNED.
WE PROPOSE TO TOPIC 2 TO DEMONSTRATE A VEHICLE UTILIZATION OF AN ONBOARD FACILITY OF AN ULTRAVIOLET REMOTE SENSING PAYLOAD SYSTEM ON THE BLUE ORIGIN NEW SHEPPARD REUSABLE SUBORBITAL LAUNCH VEHICLE. THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR INTEGRATION, FLIGHT TESTING, AND POST-FLIGHT CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SYSTEM AND EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT. THE IRIS-UV: INTEGRATED REMOTE IMAGING SYSTEM-ULTRAVIOLET, IS HELD INSIDE A RUGGEDIZED BLUE ORIGIN PAYLOAD LOCKER, AND CONSISTS OF AN APL PROVIDED ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROMETER, GIMBAL, AND ELECTRONICS. IT WILL GATHER SPECTRAL DATA OF THE ATMOSPHERIC BRIGHTNESS AND TRANSMISSION IN THE UV (200-400 NM) DURING ASCENT TO 100KM AND DESCENT TO GROUND. THE SPECTROMETER WILL BE GIMBALLED FROM ZENITH TO ~ 15 DEG (TO AVOID THE S/C FAIRING). ALREADY TESTED FOR VIBRATION, THE SUCCESSFUL OPERATION OF THIS INSTRUMENT IN FLIGHT WILL HELP DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY TO EMPLOY OF COTS INSTRUMENTS IN SPACE. THIS IS NEW INFORMATION TO INFORM THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE UV INSTRUMENTATION. THIS SYSTEM WILL BE MOUNTED ON THE UPPER RING OF THE PROPULSION MODULE (PM).
THE CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICAL SCIENCES (CAS) AT THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY (JHU) PROPOSES TO CONTINUE OUR LONG-STANDING JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY (JHU) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT WITH THE NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (GSFC). THIS AGREEMENT COVERS RESEARCH IN EXPERIMENTAL, OBSERVATIONAL, ANALYTIC, NUMERICAL, AND THEORETICAL SPACE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. IT IS RECOGNIZED THAT, WORKING TOGETHER, SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, AND RESEARCHERS FROM THE JHU AND THE GSFC CAN SHARE EXPERTISE AND RESOURCES TO MAXIMIZE THE RETURN FROM NASA MISSION INVESTMENTS. THE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY AND THE NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER HAS RESULTED IN MANY FRUITFUL COLLABORATIONS AND PRODUCTIVE RESEARCH, AND HAS ENABLED JHU STUDENTS AND JUNIOR RESEARCHERS TO OBTAIN TRAINING FROM WELL-ESTABLISHED RESEARCHERS IN THE FIELD, THUS EXPANDING THE EXPERTISE AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY AND BROADENING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR STUDENTS. THESE AGREEMENTS HAVE ENHANCED THE ABILITY OF GODDARD PROFESSIONALS TO COLLABORATE WITH JHU FACULTY, INSTRUMENTALISTS AND ENGINEERS, RESEARCH SCIENTISTS, POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWS, GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, THESE AGREEMENTS HAVE PROVIDED A MECHANISM FOR JHU-AFFILIATED SCIENTISTS TO WORK AT GSFC, AND FOR GSFC SCIENTISTS TO VISIT JHU. THE VISITING PERIODS MAY RANGE FROM HOURS, TO DAYS, TO MONTHS TO FOSTER MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL INTERACTION AND COLLABORATION. THE PROPOSED COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR RESEARCH IN SPACE SCIENCE (CARS) PLACES NO REQUIREMENTS ON NASA ALL INTERACTIONS AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OCCUR ONLY WITH THE EXPRESS APPROVAL AND CONSENT OF NASA CIVIL SERVANTS. WE PROPOSE TO RENEW THE HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR AN ADDITIONAL FIVE YEARS IN THE FORM OF CARS PHASE IV, AS DESCRIBED IN THIS PROPOSAL.
FRESHWATER CHANGES IN THE ARCTIC AND SUBPOLAR NORTH ATLANTIC HAVE STRONG IMPLICATIONS FOR CLIMATE, INCLUDING THEIR INFLUENCE ON DEEP WATER FORMATION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC AND THE ATLANTIC MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATION (AMOC).
SUBRECIPIENT (JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY) WILL PROVIDE SERVICES USING DR. CHARLES A HIBBITTS IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS. DR. HIBBITTS WILL USE HIS LABORATORY COMPUTER AND FACILITIES LOCATED AT THE APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY . IN ADDITION, DR. HIBBITTS WILL USE HIS EXPERTISE IN THE FIELDS OF PLANETARY SCIENCE AND LABORATORY SPECTROSCOPY. HE IS EXPECTED TO WORK WITHOUT SUPERVISION THROUGH EMAIL INSTRUCTIONS FROM DR. TAKIR FOR THE DURATION OF THE AWARD. DR. HIBBITTS WILL ALSO ASSIST THE PROPOSAL TEAM WITH THE SPECTRAL ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION OF THE MINERALOGICAL/CHEMICAL AND ALBEDO MAPS, AND WRITING PEER-REVIEW MANUSCRIPTS.
MARYLAND SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM (MDSGC) WAS ONE OF THE FIRST SEVENTEEN SPACE GRANTS SELECTED BY NASA IN 1989. THIRTY YEARS LATER, WE ARE TODAY EVEN MORE COMMITTED TO OUR SPACE GRANT WORK AND EXCITED ABOUT OUR FUTURE ACTIVITIES! WE PROPOSE TO CONTINUE OUR MISSION TO INSPIRE AND SUPPORT RISING MARYLAND STUDENTS AND TO ENCOURAGE THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND TECHNOLOGY, WITH THE AIM OF STRENGTHENING AMERICA S, AND ESPECIALLY NASA S, WORKFORCE IN AREAS THAT WILL BE CRITICAL FOR OUR FUTURE, AND WITH A FOCUS ON THE NEEDS OF NASA S FOUR MISSION DIRECTORATES. MDSGC HAS CAREFULLY TUNED OUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND PROGRAMMATIC APPROACH TO FILL A UNIQUE AND VITAL ROLE IN MARYLAND S SPACE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION LANDSCAPE. BECAUSE OF THE ABUNDANCE OF NASA-FUNDED RESEARCH IN MARYLAND, AS WELL AS THE LOCAL IMPORTANCE OF THE AEROSPACE BUSINESS SECTOR, MDSGC HAS CHOSEN TO CONCENTRATE ON ACTIVITIES THAT PROVIDE HANDS-ON LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS AND ACT TO DEVELOP THE FUTURE WORKFORCE FOR THE AEROSPACE COMMUNITY IN GENERAL, AND NASA IN PARTICULAR. IMPROVING THE DIVERSITY OF THE FUTURE WORKFORCE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SPECIAL FOCUS FOR MDSGC, AND WE HAVE HAD EXCELLENT SUCCESS IN RECRUITING STRONG CANDIDATES FROM GROUPS UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEM. WE ENGAGE STUDENTS WITH NASA S MISSION THROUGH A SUITE OF CORE ACTIVITIES THAT WE SUPPORT ON AN ONGOING BASIS. THESE INCLUDE OUR SUMMER INTERNSHIP AND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS, OUR HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON PAYLOAD PROGRAM, AND THE OPERATION OF THE MDSGC OBSERVATORY. OUTSIDE OF THESE CORE ACTIVITIES, WE RESERVE A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF OUR YEARLY BUDGET FOR AWARDING VIA A COMPETITIVE PROPOSAL PROCESS THAT IS OVERSEEN BY OUR PROGRAM COMMITTEE. OUR PROPOSAL OPPORTUNITIES ARE OPEN TO ALL MARYLAND INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS. WE EMPHASIZE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND HANDS-ON LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES, COLLABORATION ACROSS INSTITUTIONS AND DISCIPLINES, AND SUPPORT FOR WOMEN AND MEMBERS OF MINORITIES UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEM WE ENABLE PROJECTS OTHERWISE LACKING FUNDING AVENUES AND WE WORK TO MAINTAIN A BROAD GEOGRAPHICAL FOOTPRINT FOR OUR ACTIVITIES THAT STRETCHES FROM THE WESTERN MARYLAND PANHANDLE TO THE EASTERN SHORE OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. THE GOAL OF LINKING STUDENTS FROM DIVERSE MARYLAND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS WITH NASA AND NASA-ALIGNED OPPORTUNITIES HAS BEEN OUR GREAT PRIVILEGE OVER THE DECADES, AND WE HOPE AND DESIRE TO CONTINUE THAT WORK FAR INTO THE FUTURE.
VAN ALLEN PROBE PHASE E EXTENDED MISSION
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION IS TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION IS CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
MISSIONS TO SMALL BODIES HAVE BECOME PREVALENT. TO RECONSTRUCT SMALL BODIES NEAR- SURFACE EVOLUTION FROM PRIMITIVE TO MODIFIED WORLDS VIA REMOTE SENSING AND RETURNED SAMPLES REQUIRES AN UNDERSTANDING OF GRANULAR REGOLITH DYNAMICS. TO ADDRESS THE
BECA S DPU WILL CONTAIN THREE MODULES: A LOW-VOLTAGE POWER MODULE, A HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER MODULE (TO POWER THE CEBR3 GRS), AND A PROCESSOR MODULE. ALL MODULES ARE COUPLED THROUGH A COMMON BACKPLANE CONNECTOR, A DESIGN BASED ON MANY PRIOR APL DPUS. THE PROCESSOR BOARD WILL CARRY OUT BECA COMMAND AND CONTROL, HEALTH AND STATUS MONITORING, DATA PROCESSING, AND FORMATTING FUNCTIONS FOR THE CEBR3 GRS. IT WILL ALSO INTERFACE WITH THE PNG CONTROLLER FOR OPERATION OF THE PNG. THE DESIGNS OF THE BECA DPU MODULES ARE BASED UPON SIMILAR MODULES BUILT AND TESTED USING NASA INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT FUNDING (LAWRENCE ET AL., 2017). THESE MODULES ALSO CURRENTLY SERVE AS THE BASELINE DESIGN FOR THE PSYCHE GRNS (PEPLOWSKI ET AL., 2018). THE DPU S MECHANICAL DESIGN IS ALREADY FLIGHT QUALIFIED WITH HERITAGE BASED ON PRIOR APL INSTRUMENTS FROM THE VAN ALLEN PROBES AND PARKER SOLAR PROBE MISSIONS (E.G., MITCHELL ET AL., 2013). FOR THIS DEVELOPMENT, A NEW DPU CONSISTING OF THE THREE BOARDS WILL BE BUILT USING THE SAME DESIGNS AS OUR CURRENT PROTOTYPE DPU (FIGURE 1). UPDATES TO THE FLIGHT SOFTWARE AND THE FIELD PROGRAMMABLE GATE ARRAYS (FPGA) WILL BE INCORPORATED TO ACCOMMODATE THE PNG OPERATION AND GRS TIME-TAGGING DATA ACQUISITION. BECAUSE OF THIS NEW FLIGHT SOFTWARE AND FPGA WORK, THE DPU S ENTERING TRL IS 5 AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE WORK, THE DPU WILL BE TRL 6. THIS WORK WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN YEAR 1 OF THE PROJECT BASED ON HERITAGE FROM SIMILAR BOARDS THAT WERE DESIGNED AND BUILT AS PART OF A CURRENT NASA-FUNDED INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FROM THE MATISSE PROGRAM. THE TESTING OF THE BOARDS WILL BE CARRIED OUT BY CONNECTING THE BOARDS TO OUR ALREADY EXISTING GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETERS, AND MAKING MEASUREMENTS OF GAMMA-RAYS USING SEALED RADIOACTIVE SOURCES AND OUR APL NEUTRON GENERATOR.
THE NASA ENGINEERING AND SAFETY CENTER (NESC) HAS FORMED THE ELECTRICAL POWER TECHNICAL DISCIPLINE TEAM (TDT) TO PROVIDE TECHNICAL EXPERTISE TO THE AGENCY FOR ISSUES RELATED TO ELECTRICAL POWER THAT JHU/APL SUPPORTS.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS CONTRACT IS TO SUPPORT USAID PEPFAR LESOTHO WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE KHANYA PROJECT FOR THE SCALE UP OF VOLUNTARY MEDICAL MALE CIRCUMCISION VMMC AND PRE EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS PREP SERVICES IN LESOTHO.
NI-SAR SRB SUPPORT
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.
THE OVERALL SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED WILL SUPPORT ALL OF NASA'S MISSION DIRECTORATES. THESE EFFORTS CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES). THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE TASKS TO BE DEVELOPED WILL BE TO CONDUCT SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND SPACE EXPLORATION AND ASSIST NASA IN THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF ITS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING NASA WITH TECHNICAL ADVICE, STUDIES, AND REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE CONTRACTOR, IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ASSIGNED TASKS, WHICH INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, PARTNERING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES, SHALL SEEK TO ENHANCE THE VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY TO THE NATION S TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS, PROSPERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND OTHER NATIONAL PRIORITIES.
INDIVIDUAL TASK ORDERS WILL FALL WITHIN ONE OF TWO BROAD CATEGORIES:
1) ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITY OF SPACE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, AND RELATED WORK IN THE SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF SYSTEMS TEST AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SIMULATION, MODELING AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ARE INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE NATION S CAPABILITIES TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS OVER THE FULL MISSION LIFE CYCLE FROM CONCEPT FORMULATION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS. NASA IS CONTRACTING FOR SUPPORT IN SEVERAL KEY RESEARCH, ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPETENCIES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE MISSIONS.
2) OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT. TASK ORDERS WITHIN THE CATEGORY OF OTHER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT ARE INTENDED TO INCLUDE A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS.
REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY, TASK ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS OR OTHER DEVICES THAT MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOADS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE OR ON OTHER SPACECRAFT. TASK ASSIGNMENTS WILL EXPLICITLY DESCRIBE A BROAD RANGE OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, AND MANAGEMENT EFFORTS INCLUDING PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
TRIDENT: MISSION TO AN EXOTIC ACTIVE WORLD PHASE A, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR SUPPORT TASK ORDER UNDER THE AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) II CONTRACT 80MSFC20D0004
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
