The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $91,000 - Monday the 31st of October 2011
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
  PHASE A STUDY FOR GALAXY EVOLUTION EXPLORER (GALEX)INVESTIGATION. THIS CONTRACT REQUIRES THE CONTRACTOR TO PERFORM A CONCEPT STUDY FOR THE GALEX INVESTIGATION IN ORDER TO PROVIDE NASA WITH MORE DEFINITIVE INFORMATION REGARDING THE COST, RISK, AND FEASIBILITY OF THE INVESTIGATION. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PREPARE AND DELIVER A CONCEPT STUDY REPORT DETAILING THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY IN ACCORDANCE WITH ATTACHMENT B OF THE CONTRACT. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ALSO SUPPORT A NASA SITE VISIT AT ITS FACILITY TO DISCUSS THE CONCEPT STUDY REPORT. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THIS EFFORT, PHASES B, C, AND D OF THE CONTRACT WILL COMMENCE. PHASES B, C, AND D ARE FOR THE DEFINITION, DESIGN, AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GALEX INVESTIGATION.PHASE A STUDY FOR GALAXY EVOLUTION EXPLORER (GALEX)INVESTIGATION.

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• $90,000 - Wednesday the 6th of July 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  CIRCUMSTELLAR ACCRETION DISKS PROVIDE THE PIVOTAL LINK BETWEEN STAR FORMATION AND (EXO)PLANETARY SCIENCE, AND THEIR INTERNAL STRUCTURE, TRANSPORT PROPERTIES, AND EVOLUTIONARY TIMESCALES PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN DETERMINING WHAT SORT OF PLANETARY SYSTEM, IF ANY, CAN BE FORMED. OBSERVATIONAL PROBES OF THE GAS IN THE INNER SEVERAL 10S OF AU ARE PARTICULARLY NEEDED TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN COMPETING PLANETARY FORMATION MODELS, BUT DIRECT IMAGING OF THE INNER DISK IS EXTREMELY CHALLENGING. WITH ORIGINS SUPPORT, WE, AND OTHERS, HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT SPECTROSCOPY PROVIDES ANOTHER ROUTE, WITH CO V=1-0 EMISSION NEAR 4.7 MICRONS PROVIDING A PARTICULARLY WIDELY OBSERVABLE DIAGNOSTIC OF THE GAS FROM 0.5-50 AU. HERE WE PROPOSE A COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM BETWEEN CALTECH, STSCI, AND THE KAPTEYN INSTITUTE THAT WILL COMBINE OBSERVATION AND THEORY TO STUDY THE PROPERTIES AND EVOLUTION OF THE GAS IN PROTOPLANETARY DISKS. THREE SUB-PROGRAMS ARE ENVISIONED: (I) AN M-BAND THROUGH FAR-INFRARED OBSERVATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE GAS CHEMISTRY AND DISSIPATION TIMESCALE(S) IN DISKS, CONCENTRATING ON A NEWLY REVEALED SAMPLE OF HERBIG AE STARS, CLASSICAL T TAURI STARS, AND TRANSITIONAL DISKS THAT SHOW BRIGHT MOLECULAR EMISSION FEATURES WITH SPITZER. SPECIFICALLY, HIGH DISPERSION GROUND-BASED SPECTROSCOPY AT THE KECK AND VLT WILL BE COMBINED WITH HERSCHEL SPACE TELESCOPE DATA TO PROBE THE RADIAL AND VERTICAL DEPENDENCE OF THE GAS PHASE CHEMISTRY ON STELLAR MASS AND DISK/DUST EVOLUTIONARY STATE. FOR SUFFICIENTLY BRIGHT OBJECTS VISIBLE FROM CALIFORNIA, WE ALSO PROPOSE TO ACQUIRE SUB-ARCSECOND IMAGES OF THE OUTER DISK USING CARMA, TO PROVIDE A SUITE OF DISKS READY FOR VERY HIGH SENSITIVITY/RESOLUTION IMAGING WITH ALMA AND THE JWST. (II) HIGH DISPERSION SPECTRO-ASTROMETRY OF INFRARED EMISSION LINES ENABLES SUB-AU CONSTRAINTS TO BE PLACED ON THE DISK GAS. CRIRES PROVIDED THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO CONDUCT SUCH STUDIES WITH ADAPTIVE OPTICS-LIMITED SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND A SPECTROSCOPIC RESOLVING POWER OF>100,000. SUCH CAPABILITIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE AT KECK NIRSPEC AT R>25,000, AND WE THEREFORE PROPOSE TO CONDUCT A KECK SPECTRO-ASTROMETRIC STUDY OF DISKS IN TAURUS AND PERSEUS, OBJECTS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO STUDY FROM PARANAL. (III) TO BETTER DELINEATE THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE INNER DISK THAT ARE CRITICAL TO PLANET FORMATION, ACCURATE THEORETICAL MODELS OF THE DISK CHEMISTRY AND STATISTICAL EQUILIBRIUM CALCULATIONS OF THE EXCITATION AND RADIATIVE TRANSFER IN THE NEAR SURFACE LAYERS OF THE DISK ARE ESSENTIAL. WE WILL THEREFORE COMBINE A STATE-OF-THE-ART PHYSICS/CHEMISTRY DISK MODEL (PRODIMO) WITH EQUALLY ADVANCED RADIATIVE TRANSFER TOOLS (RADLITE) TO CHARACTERIZE THE PLANET-FORMING REGION OF DISKS USING THE EXTENSIVE OBSERVATIONAL RESULTS IN HAND AND TO BE GENERATED AS PART OF THIS PROPOSAL. THESE ARE THE IMPORTANT FIRST STEPS IN UNDERTAKING LARGE SCALE SURVEYS FOR PROTOPLANETS DEEPLY EMBEDDED IN GAS AND DUST, OBJECTS THAT FORM THE EARLIEST COUNTERPARTS TO THE NOW WIDELY CHARACTERIZED MAIN SEQUENCE PLANET POPULATION AND THAT WILL SERVE AS TESTBEDS FOR A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS.

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• $89,134 - Tuesday the 13th of June 2017
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE CENTRAL PHENOMENON CONNECTING AND LIKELY EXPLAINING MANY OF THE FEATURES SEEN ON THE SURFACE OF TITAN - FROM WET LAKES TO DRY DUNES TO FLUVIAL CHANNELS -- IS THE SEASONAL METHANE METEOROLOGICAL CYCLE. UNDERSTANDING THE LOCATIONS AND STYLE OF CLOUD ACTIVITY ON TITAN IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THIS SEASONAL CYCLE'S INTERACTIONS WITH THE GEOLOGY, HYDROLOGY, AND ATMOSPHERE OF THE SATELLITE. OUR GROUND-BASED PROGRAMS HAVE BEEN CONTINUALLY MONITORING THE CLOUDS ON TITAN SINCE NOVEMBER 2001. THESE OBSERVATIONS PROVIDE FREQUENT COVERAGE, BUT ONLY AT MODEST SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND SENSITIVITY. CASSINI, IN CONTRAST, ALLOWS THE DETECTION OF MUCH SMALLER METEOROLOGICAL EVENTS, BUT ONLY FOR BRIEF MOMENTS DURING FLYBYS. THE GROUND-BASED VIEW OF TITAN CLOUDS REVEALS THAT TITAN IS A METEOROLOGICALLY DYNAMIC PLACE WITH CLOUDS CHANGING ON MUCH FASTER TIME SCALES THAN THE SPACING OF CASSINI FLYBYS, THAT MAJOR CHANGES HAVE OCCURRED SINCE THE TIME OF LARGE CLOUD OUTBURSTS AT SOUTHERN SUMMER SOLSTICE, AND THAT, PERHAPS, THE SEVERAL-YEARS-LONG QUIET PERIOD ON TITAN IS NOW COMING TO A DRAMATIC END. THE CASSINI VIEW, IN CONTRAST, SUGGESTS THAT CLOUDS ON TITAN ARE A RELATIVELY STABLE FEATURE, WITH SMALL CLOUDS APPEARING AT CONSISTENT LATITUDES AT ALL TIMES, AND THAT NO MAJOR CHANGES ARE OCCURRING AS TITAN MOVES TOWARDS EQUINOX. RECONCILING THESE VERY DIFFERENT VIEWS OF TITAN AND DEVELOPING A NEW VIEW CONSISTENT WITH ALL OF THE AVAILABLE OBSERVATIONS IS THE MAJOR GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL. THE INVESTIGATIONS PROPOSED HERE INCLUDE CONTINUED OF ALL OF THE RELEASED TITAN VIMS DATA AND ISS DATA TO MAP CLOUD LOCATIONS, DETERMINE CLOUD HEIGHTS AND MORPHOLOGIES, AND STUDY CLOUD DYNAMICS. WE WILL THEN RIGOROUSLY COMPARE THESE RESULTS TO OUR EXTENSIVE SET OF PHOTOMETRIC, SPECTROSCOPIC, AND IMAGINING DATA FROM THE GROUND, AND, FINALLY, COMBINE THESE VIEWS TO UNDERSTAND THE SEASONAL METHANE METEOROLOGICAL CYCLE OF TITAN AT ALL SCALES.

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• $66,000 - Wednesday the 14th of December 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  SUPERCONDUCTING QUANTUM INTERFERENCE DEVICES, OR SQUIDS, ARE BY FAR THE MOST SENSITIVE MAGNETOMETERS AVAILABLE, BUT TWO ISSUES LIMIT THEIR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THEIR COMPLICATED AND COSTLY FABRICATION PROCESS AND THEIR UNSUITABILITY FOR LARGE-SCALE ARRAY MULTIPLEXING. WE PROPOSE DEVELOPING A NEW KIND OF SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETOMETER, A SUPERCONDUCTING KINETIC INDUCTANCE MAGNETOMETER (SKIM), THAT WE EVISION WILL REPLACE THE SQUID DUE TO ITS SIMPLE FABRICATION AND ITS CAPABILITY FOR HIGH-DENSITY MULTIPLEXING, WHILE MATCHING THE SQUID'S EXQUISITE SENSITIVITY. A SQUID CONSISTS OF A LOOP OF SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIAL THAT IS INTERRUPTED BY JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS AT TWO LOCATIONS. A JOSEPHSON JUNCTION IS A WEAK LINK BETWEEN TWO SUPERCONDUCTING REGIONS, AND CAN BE REALIZED BY USING AN INSULATOR, NORMAL METAL, OR SPECIAL GEOMETRY FOR THE WEAK LINK. THIS MAKES THE FABRICATION PROCESS RELATIVELY COMPLICATED, AS MULTIPLE MATERIALS ARE REQUIRED. THE SKIM WILL CONSIST OF A SINGLE LAYER OF SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIAL, SO ITS FABRICATION WILL BE VERY SIMPLE AND MUCH CHEAPER THAN THAT OF SQUIDS. IN ADDITION, SQUIDS ARE DIFFICULT TO MULTIPLEX ON A LARGE SCALE BECAUSE EACH DEVICE REQUIRES ~6 CONNECTIONS, ALL OF WHICH MUST GO INTO A CRYOSTAT WHERE THE DEVICE IS KEPT. THE SKIM, ON THE OTHER HAND, WILL BENEFIT FROM AN ELEGANT MULTIPLEXING SCHEME IN WHICH ALL OF THE DEVICES IN AN ARRAY CAN BE READ OUT SIMULTANEOUSLY ON A SINGLE LINE, USING SIGNAL PROCESSING TECHNIQUES. THESE ADVANTAGES WILL PROVE TO BE IMPORTANT FOR MANY APPLICATIONS. SQUIDS CURRENTLY HAVE MANY APPLICATIONS THAT ARE OF INTEREST TO NASA. THEY ARE ROUTINELY USED FOR GEOMAGNETIC SURVEYING, WHICH WOULD BE APPLICABLE TO NASA'S PLANETARY SCIENCE MISSIONS. THEY ARE ALSO USEFUL FOR NON-DESTRUCTIVE EVAULATION (NDE), WHERE THEY CAN DETECT HIDDEN FLAWS IN A MATERIAL BY MEASURING THE MAGNETIC FIELD AFTER THE MATERIAL IS MAGNETIZED. THIS HAS BEEN USED FOR TESTING VARIOUS AIRPLANE PARTS, AND TRANSLATES INTO AN IMPORTANT SAFETY PROCEDURE FOR NASA MISSIONS. THEY EVEN HAVE APPLICATIONS IN MEDICAL IMAGING, WHERE THEY ARE WIDELY USED FOR MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAPHY, A BRAIN IMAGING TECHNIQUE. ALL OF THESE CASES WOULD BENEFIT FROM REPLACING SQUIDS WITH SKIMS. THE SKIMS' SIMPLER FABRICATION PROCESS WOULD MAKE THEM CHEAPER, AND THEIR HIGH-DENSITY MULTIPLEXING CAPABILITY WOULD ALLOW THEM TO BE USED IN LARGE ARRAYS, WHICH COULD BE USED TO MEASURE LARGE AREAS OF MAGNETIC FIELD DATA AT A TIME. THIS PROJECT WILL REQUIRE A COMBINATION OF ANALYTICS, SIMULATION, FABRICATION, AND EXPERIMENT. FIRST, ANALYTICAL CALCULATIONS AND PLANAR ELECTROMAGNETIC SIMULATIONS WILL BE EMPLOYED TO DESIGN THE SKIM STRUCTURE. DEVICES WOULD BE FABRICATED AT NASA'S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, SO PARTNERSHIP WITH NASA WILL BE ESSENTIAL FOR THE PROJECT. EXPERIMENTS WOULD BE DONE IN A CRYOGENIC TESTING SETUP. AFTER DEMONSTRATING THE PERFORMANCE OF A SINGLE SKIM DEVICE, WE WILL STUDY ARRAYS, WITH THE GOAL OF ~100 WORKING DEVICES. IN ADDITION TO THE EXTRA FABRICATION AND EXPERIMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS THAT MUST BE DEALT WITH FOR ARRAYS, WE WILL HAVE TO PERFORM MORE ANALYTICS AND SIMULATIONS TO DEAL WITH THE ISSUE OF CROSSTALK BETWEEN SKIMS.

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• $65,403 - Friday the 6th of November 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  ACOUSTIC IMAGING HAS PLAYED AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN ENSURING THAT STRUCTURES AND VEHICLES ARE IN SOUND CONDITION BOTH DURING THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND THEIR OPERATION. OUR LAB HAS DEVELOPED A NEW SOUND FOCUSING SYSTEM: A PHASED ARRAY (COLLOQUIALLY REFERRED TO AS AN "ACOUSTIC LENS") BASED UPON WAVE TRANSMISSION THROUGH ADJUSTABLE NON-LINEAR MEDIA. FOR MY RESEARCH, I WILL DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE OF THIS SYSTEM AND EXPLORE ITS POTENTIAL FOR IMAGING. THE LENS IS BUILT FROM PARALLEL CHAINS OF METALLIC SPHERES. THESE CHAINS SUPPORT THE TRANSMISSION OF COMPACT SINGLE WAVE PULSES, AND BY PRE-COMPRESSING A CHAIN WE CAN MODIFY THE SIGNAL SPEED WITHIN IT. IF THE CHAINS ARE DIFFERENTIALLY COMPRESSED AND COUPLED WITH A LINEAR MEDIUM, IT IS POSSIBLE TO TIME THE TRANSMISSION OF A PULSE SO THAT THE RESPONSE IT GENERATES IN THE LINEAR MEDIUM COALESCES TO A SMALL VOLUME, GENERATING A "SOUND BULLET." THIS DEVICE OFFERS A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF ADVANTAGES OVER CURRENT TECHNIQUES FOR ACOUSTIC IMAGING AS IT IS CAPABLE OF DYNAMICALLY CHANGING ITS FOCAL POINT, IT IS ABLE TO SUPPORT THE CREATION OF A SINGLE TRANSIENT PULSE (SIMPLIFYING THE TASK OF SIGNAL ANALYSIS AND POSSIBLY ALLOWING FOR A MORE ACCURATE RESULT), AND IT IS CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING A POWERFUL SIGNAL. TO DEVELOP THE LENS FOR PRACTICAL USE, THREE MAJOR ISSUES WILL BE ADDRESSED IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE BOUNDARIES OF ITS PERFORMANCE. FIRST, THE LIMITS OF WHERE THE SIGNAL CAN BE FOCUSED WILL BE STUDIED. SECOND, METHODS TO IMPROVE TRANSMISSION OF THE SIGNAL TO THE LINEAR SYSTEM WILL BE EXPLORED. AND THIRD, THE LIMITATIONS OF SIGNAL POWER AND THE DEGRADATION OF PERFORMANCE DUE TO PLASTIC DEFORMATION OF THE SPHERES WILL BE DETERMINED. WITH THESE ISSUES ADDRESSED, I WILL CONSTRUCT A PROTOTYPE OF THE LENS. ONCE THE PROTOTYPE HAS BEEN BUILT RESEARCH WILL THEN SHIFT TOWARDS APPLYING THE LENS TO IMAGING. I WILL FIRST TEST THE ABILITY OF THE LENS TO IMAGE FEATURES WITHIN BULK MEDIA AND THEN MOVE ON TO APPLYING THE LENS TO IMAGING WITHIN PLATE ARRANGEMENTS (WHERE THE ACOUSTIC RESPONSE IS MORE COMPLEX). THIS WORK WILL CULMINATE WITH THE IMAGING OF SPACE-CRAFT STRUCTURES. INVESTIGATION INTO BOTH THE BASIC SCIENCE BEHIND THE LENS AND THE IMAGING CAPABILITY OF THE LENS WILL REQUIRE A COMBINATION OF COMPUTATIONAL MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK. THE COMPUTATIONAL MODELING WILL BE PRIMARILY CARRIED OUT USING THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD, A POWERFUL MODELING TECHNIQUE CAPABLE OF ACCURATELY MEASURING PHYSICAL BEHAVIOR OVER A WIDE RANGE OF SCALES. EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE FORMATION OF SOUND BULLETS WILL BE CARRIED OUT WITH THE USE OF HYDROPHONES (FOR BULK SYSTEMS) AND LASER VIBROMETERS AND STRAIN GAGES (FOR PLATE SYSTEMS). THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HIGHLY NONLINEAR PHASED ARRAY FITS SQUARELY WITHIN THE STATED GOALS OF NASA S MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES RESEARCH PROGRAM. THE MOST OBVIOUS APPLICATION OF THE TOOL IS FOR ITS USE IN STRUCTURAL ASSESSMENT DURING MANUFACTURE AND MAINTENANCE, AS ITS ABILITY TO CREATE SINGLE PULSES AND ITS POWER MAY ALLOW FOR THE DETECTION OF DAMAGE TYPES CURRENTLY BELOW THE RESOLUTION THRESHOLD OF CURRENT PRACTICES. THIS IS PARTICULARLY PERTINENT AS NASA MOVES TOWARDS GREATER USE OF LIGHT-WEIGHT COMPOSITE STRUCTURES FOR ITS AIR AND SPACE MISSIONS, AS THE DAMAGE MODES OF COMPOSITES TEND TO BE DIFFICULT TO DETECT WITH CURRENT ACOUSTIC IMAGING TECHNOLOGY. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE LENS MAY ALLOW IT TO BE USED FOR MONITORING PHYSICAL CONDITION WITHIN A MISSION, AS THE EASE WITHWHICH THE FOCAL POINT MAY BE MOVED MAY ALLOW A SINGLE DEVICE INTEGRATED WITHIN A CRAFT TO COVER A REASONABLY LARGE AREA FOR DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. THESE POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ACOUSTIC IMAGING WILL PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN NASA'S SPACE GOALS: HELPING REDUCE THE COST OF SPACE ACCESS, ENABLING ACCESS TO EXTREME SPACE ENVIRONMENTS, AND ENSURING THAT ANY FUTURE COLONIES OR WAY STATIONS ARE BEST PREPARED FOR THE RIGORS OF SPACE.

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• $630,670 - Thursday the 3rd of December 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WE PROPOSE AN UPGRADE TO THE COSMIC INFRARED EXTRAGLACTIC BACKGROUND EXPERIMENT (CIBER), A NEAR-INFRARED SOUNDING ROCKET EXPERIMENT, TO CONDUCT A DEEP MULTI-BAND SEARCH FOR EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND FLUCTUATIONS FROM THE FIRST GENERATION OF STARS. THESE FIRST STARS AND THEIR REMNANTS ARE LIKELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REIONIZATION OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM, WHICH IS OBSERVED TO BE IONIZED OUT TO THE MOST DISTANT QUASARS AT A REDSHIFT OF 6. THE TOTAL LUMINOSITY PRODUCED BY FIRST STARS IS UNCERTAIN, BUT A LOWER LIMIT CAN BE PLACED ASSUMING A MINIMAL NUMBER OF PHOTONS TO PRODUCE AND SUSTAIN REIONIZATION. THE OPTICAL AND UV RADIATION FROM FIRST LIGHT IS PRESENT IN THE EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND. SEARCHES FOR THIS RADIATION BASED ON ABSOLUTE PHOTOMETRY HAVE PROVEN PROBLEMATIC DUE TO CONFUSION WITH ZODIACAL AND GALACTIC FOREGROUNDS. WE PROPOSE A DEEP FLUCTUATIONS MEASUREMENT, WHICH CAN SEARCH FOR THE FIRST LIGHT EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND TO MUCH LOWER LEVELS THAN IS POSSIBLE WITH ABSOLUTE PHOTOMETRY. LOWER LIMITS TO THE FIRST-LIGHT BACKGROUND, DERIVED FROM MINIMAL REIONIZATION MODELS, ARE REACHABLE IN A DEDICATED FLUCTUATIONS MEASUREMENT. FIRST GALAXIES HAVE PREDICTABLE LINEAR CLUSTERING, AND ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE FLUCTUATIONS WITH A CHARACTERISTIC SPATIAL POWER SPECTRUM. THIS SPATIAL POWER SPECTRUM, WHICH PEAKS AT AN ANGULAR SCALE OF -10 ARCMINUTES, IS BEST MEASURED WITH WIDE-FIELD DEGREE-SCALE IMAGING. THE SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION OF FIRST-LIGHT FLUCTUATIONS PEAKS IN THE 1-2 UM RANGE FOR TYPICAL MODELS, AND CAN BE DISCRIMINATED BY LOCAL FOREGROUNDS BY IMAGING IN MULTIPLE WAVELENGTHS. WE WILL DEVELOP A NEW CIBER2 CAMERA OPTIMIZED FOR SUCH A SEARCH, A WIDE-FIELD 30 CM IMAGER OPERATING IN FOUR BANDS BETWEEN 0.5 AND 2.1 MICRONS. THIS CAMERA IS AN IMPROVEMENT TO THE CURRENT IMAGING INSTRUMENT, AND WILL FOLLOW ON AFTER SEVERAL PROPOSED REFLIGHTS OF CIBER. WE WILL COMBINE THE NEW CAMERA WITH THE EXISTING CRYOSTAT AND MECHANICAL HARDWARE TO PROBE FLUCTUATIONS 10 TIMES MORE DEEPLY. AT THIS LEVEL OF SENSITIVITY WE EXPECT TO DETECT FLUCTUATIONS BASED ON MINIMAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE LUMINOSITY OF THE FIRST-LIGHT EPOCH.

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• $6,100 - Tuesday the 24th of January 2012
  Department Of Navy
  NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
  AMPLIFIER

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• $60,903 - Friday the 16th of March 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
  PHASE A STUDY FOR GALAXY EVOLUTION EXPLORER (GALEX) INVESTIGATION. THIS CONTRACT REQUIRES THE CONTRACTOR TO PERFORM A CONCEPT STUDY FOR THE GALEX INVESTIGATION IN ORDER TO PROVIDE NASA WITH MORE DEFINITIVE INFORMATION REGARDING THE COST, RISK, AND FEASIBILITY OF THE INVESTIGATION. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PREPARE AND DELIVER A CONCEPT STUDY REPORT DETAILING THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY IN ACCORDANCE WITH ATTACHMENT B OF THE CONTRACT. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ALSO SUPPORT A NASA SITE VISIT AT ITS FACILITY TO DISCUSS THE CONCEPT STUDY REPORT. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THIS EFFORT, PHASES B, C, AND D OF THE CONTRACT WILL COMMENCE. PHASES B, C, AND D ARE FOR THE DEFINITION, DESIGN, AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GALEX INVESTIGATION.PHASE A STUDY FOR GALAXY EVOLUTION EXPLORER (GALEX)INVESTIGATION.

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• $567,333 - Monday the 21st of May 2012
  Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  DEF ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGCY
  THE LIVING FOUNDRIES ATCG PROGRAM AIMS TO DEVELOP NEW TOOLS, TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODOLOGIES TO TRANSFORM BIOLOGY INTO AN ENGINEERING PRACTICE, SPEEDING THE BIOLOGICAL DESIGN-BUILD-TEST CYCLE AND EXPANDING THE COMPLEXITY OF SYSTEMS THAT CAN BE ENGINEERED. THE GOAL IS TO ENABLE THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF PREVIOUSLY UNATTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS, LEVERAGING BIOLOGY TO SOLVE CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH PRODUCTION OF NEW MATERIALS, NOVEL CAPABILITIES, FUEL AND MEDICINES.

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• $55,761 - Thursday the 16th of February 2017
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE THE CHEMISTRY OF CARBON, CHLORINE AND SULFUR SPECIES IN THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE OF VENUS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE DATA THAT ARE AND WILL BECOME AVAILABLE FROM VENUS EXPRESS TO ADDRESS A NUMBER OF KEY ISSUES RELATED TO THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF VENUS. THE PROPOSED TASKS INCLUDE THE PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE THAT RELATES TO CO2 STABILITY AND PRODUCTION OF H2S04 AEROSOLS AND POLYSULFUR (SX). NEW CHEMISTRY WILL INCLUDE HETEROGENEOUS REACTIONS ON THE SURFACE OF H2S04 AEROSOLS AND SX AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF OCS AND CO OBSERVED BY VENUS EXPRESS. AN INNOVATIVE TRANSPORT SCHEME WILL BE USED TO EXTEND THE ONE-DIMENSIONAL CHEMICAL MODEL TO TWO-DIMENSIONS (2-D, ALTITUDE AND LATITUDE) TO ACCOUNT FOR THE EXCHANGE OF LOWER AND UPPER ATMOSPHERES. RECENT HIGH QUALITY DATA OF OCS FROM GROUND-BASED AND VENUS EXPRESS OBSERVATIONS PROVIDE A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO TEST OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CHEMISTRY AND TRANSPORT IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF VENUS. OCS IS PRODUCED BY HETEROGENEOUS REACTIONS ON THE SURFACE; THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE IS A NET SINK FOR OCS. POLYSULFUR (SX) APPEARS TO PLAY A CRUCIAL ROLE IN THE PHOTOSENSITIZED DISSOCIATION OF OCS. AN INNOVATIVE CHEMICAL SCHEME INVOLVING SN, WHERE N VARIES FROM 1 TO 8, IS PROPOSED (SN FOR N 8 IS TREATED AS SX). THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF OCS IN THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE OF VENUS REFLECTS A SENSITIVE BALANCE BETWEEN CHEMISTRY AND TRANSPORT. USING OUR UPDATED PHOTOCHEMICAL MODEL AND WINDS FROM LEE ET AL.'S (2007) GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL, WE WILL EXPLORE THE NEW CHEMISTRY IN OUR TWO-DIMENSIONAL CHEMISTRY-TRANSPORT MODEL. THE MODELING TASK WILL BE EXTENDED TO THE STUDY OF CO AND OTHER SPECIES (E.G. H20), AND THE RESULTS WILL BE COMPARED WITH OBSERVATIONS. THE PRINCIPAL RESERVOIRS OF HYDROGEN ON VENUS ARE H20 AND HCL. PHOTOLYSIS OF H2O AND HCI PROVIDES THE MAJOR SOURCE OF H ATOMS THAT ESCAPE FROM VENUS. THE ISOTOPIC CHEMISTRY THAT RESULTS IN THE PREFERENTIAL RELEASE OF H ATOMS OVER D ATOMS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. BERTAUX ET AL. (2007) PROVIDED NEW INFORMATION FROM VENUS EXPRESS TO CONSTRAIN THE ABUNDANCES OF H20 AND HDO. NEW PROCESSES OF ISOTOPIC FRACTION DUE TO FORMATION OF H2S04 WILL BE INCLUDE. IMPLICATIONS FOR ATMOSPHERIC EVOLUTION WILL BE EXPLORED. A RADIATIVE MODEL WILL USED TO RECONCILE THE NEW MEASUREMENTS OF HCL FROM VENUS EXPRESS (VANDAELE ET AL. 2008) WITH EARLIER GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS (CONNES ET AL. 1967). THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE LOWER HCL CONCENTRATIONS FROM VENUS EXPRESS FOR THE CHEMISTRY OF VENUS WILL BE EXPLORED.

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