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Science and
Exploration of the Moon
enabled by
Stony Brook's RIS4E Team
Timothy Glotch
7:30 PM Friday
September 18, 2015
ESS 001
The Remote, In Situ, and Synchrotron
Studies for Science and Exploration (RIS4E) team is one of nine nodes of
NASA’s new Solar System Exploration and Research Virtual Institute. Our
team is addressing key aspects of the science and exploration of the
Moon and other Solar System bodies Using a comprehensive approach to
better understand the spectral data of samples and surfaces, how we will
one day safely explore those surfaces, and in turn maximize our
measurements of all samples, especially small, precious returned
samples, RIS4E will produce a wealth of information and a team of
well-trained next generation scientists. This talk, as a celebration of
International Observe the Moon Night, will provide an overview of the
five-year RIS4E effort, which is divided into four main research themes.
These themes are:
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Preparation for Exploration: Enabling
Quantitative Remote Geochemical Analysis of Airless Bodies. The
RIS4E team is engaging in studies of remote sensing targets of
opportunity, and experimental and theoretical studies to optimize
the interpretation of remote sensing data sets, including
experimental space weathering studies, simulated lunar/asteroid
environment spectroscopic measurements, and tests of advanced
spectral unmixing techniques.
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Maximizing Exploration Opportunities: Development
of Field Methods for Human Exploration. Science-motivated field work
is helping us evaluate the role of handheld and portable field
instruments for future human exploration of the Moon, enabling
rapid, low-risk, comprehensive, and quantitative assessments of the
local geology and regolith materials.
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Protecting our Explorers: Understanding How
Planetary Surface Environments Impact Human Health. Future
astronauts will be exposed to harsh environments on the Moon, with
potentially harmful but unknown health effects. The RIS4E team is
performing experiments to determine the reactivity and toxicity of
lunar analog materials, and, eventually, actual lunar samples.
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Maximizing Science from Returned Samples:
Advanced Synchrotron and STEM Analysis of Lunar and Primitive
Materials. The National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven
National Laboratory will be open to conduct experiments in the fall
of 2014. This next-generation light source will provide unparalleled
chemical and mineralogical analysis of precious lunar and primitive
materials, which the RIS4E team is taking advantage of to tightly
constrain the oxygen content of the early Solar System.
Timothy Glotch is an Associate Professor in the
Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook, where he has been since 2007.
He completed his Ph.D. in Geosciences at Arizona State University in
2004 and was a postdoc at Caltech from 2005-2007. His research is
focused on using laboratory spectroscopic techniques and sophisticated
light scattering models to enable more quantitative interpretation of
spectroscopic data sets. This work includes using laboratory
visible/near-infrared reflectance, thermal infrared emission, and Raman
spectroscopies, both on remote sensing platforms and in the laboratory,
to determine the composition of geologic materials on the surfaces of
the Moon, asteroids, Mars, and its moons.
He has received NASA group achievement awards for his
work with the Odyssey THEMIS and MER Mini-TES instruments that have
flown to Mars and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner Lunar
Radiometer Experiment. He is a Co-Investigator on Diviner, which has
been orbiting the Moon since 2009. In 2012, he was awarded the National
Science Foundation Early Career Award. He is the Principal Investigator
of the $5.5M Remote, In Situ, and Synchrotron Studies for Science and
Exploration (RIS4E) team, which is part of NASA's Solar System
Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI).
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Deciphering the
Climate History of Mars
through the Mineralogic Record
Deanne
Rogers
Clear evidence for fluids moving
across the Martian surface suggest a warm and wet climate may have
persisted on Mars over 3.5 billion years ago. Yet climate models are
unable to produce such an environment. Examination of the mineral types
found on the Martian surface, and their geologic context, provides clues
about the aqueous history and environmental conditions that may have
persisted on ancient Mars. Prof. Rogers will discuss some of these
findings and how they have advanced current understanding of Martian
aqueous environments.
Deanne Rogers is an Assistant Professor of Geosciences
at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. Her work focuses on
the use of remote sensing techniques, statistical methods and laboratory
spectroscopy to investigate planetary surface processes. Dr. Rogers
obtained her Ph.D. at Arizona State University and worked as a
Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology. She was
a member of the Mars Exploration Rover science team and is actively
involved in the Mars Odyssey mission. She is also a Co-Investigator
within the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI)
sub-node at Stony Brook University. She was named a NASA Planetary
Science Division Early Career Fellow in 2008.
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Roving on
Mars:
Where we have been;
Where we are;
Where we are going
Scott
McLennan
In 1997, a two-decade absence from the surface of the red planet
ended with the successful landing of the NASA Mars Pathfinder mission.
One component of Pathfinder was a microwave-sized rover, Sojourner, that
survived for 83 sols (Martian days), more than ten times its life
expectancy, and traversed just over the length of a football field.
Pathfinder first demonstrated the capability to remotely command a rover
on Mars, collected valuable geochemical data and instigated a new phase
of laboratory experimentation and general excitement for studying Mars.
The next rovers to land on Mars were the hugely successful Spirit
and Opportunity, arriving two weeks apart in January 2004. These rovers
shattered all expectations of what could be done with mobile spacecraft
on planetary surfaces, surviving massive dust storms, climbing
mountains, exploring crater interiors and breaking records for survival
and drive distance set by the lunar rovers some 40 years earlier – over
11 years and 42 kilometers for Opportunity.
Within a decade, NASA landed the massive Curiosity rover, using a
novel “sky crane” landing system, in Gale crater in August 2012.
Curiosity is nearly 5 times larger than the MER rovers, at 900
kilograms, and equipped with highly sophisticated internal laboratories
capable of measuring mineralogy, critical species such as methane, water
vapor and carbon dioxide, and the isotopes of elements crucial for life
including carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Curiosity has also broken all
expectations, having already survived nearly twice its life expectancy
and driven over 10 kilometers, a remarkably rapid pace by rover
standards. While doing all this, the science return from these rovers
has been extraordinary, demonstrating, among other things, that
habitable geological environments were not just present on ancient Mars
but perhaps even common and determining the first radiometric ages of a
planetary surface using a robot.
Both Opportunity and Curiosity are still functioning, with
Opportunity examining the margins of the Endeavour meteorite impact
crater and Curiosity just beginning a trek up the 5 km high Mount Sharp
to document global changes in Martian environmental conditions. Looking
forward, a new rover, based on the basic design of Curiosity but with
new instrumentation and capabilities, is planned for launch in 2020 and
is set to explore a new habitable geological environment on Mars, at a
location currently undergoing the rigorous multi-year selection
process. The Mars2020 rover is also designed to drill, collect and
cache geological samples for future return and study in the most
sophisticated laboratories on Earth.
Scott McLennan is a professor of geochemistry in the Department of
Geosciences at Stony Brook University. He carries out research into
planetary science and the geochemistry of sedimentary rocks, with his
work focused on gaining a better understanding of the composition and
evolution of planetary crusts. For the past 15 years, Prof. McLennan has
employed experimental studies and chemical / mineralogical data returned
from Mars to understand the nature of the surficial processes that have
operated on that planet during its history. He has served on the
science teams of the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover mission (Spirit and
Opportunity), 2001 Mars Odyssey orbital mission gamma ray experiment,
2011 Mars Science Laboratory rover mission (Curiosity) and the upcoming
Mars 2020 sample caching mission. In 2011 he co-chaired the NASA-ESA-sponsored
international science analysis group (E2E-iSAG) that formulated science
priorities and mission requirements for a Mars sample return campaign. |
