The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $95,000 - Thursday the 6th of August 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COMETS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE, IN ADDITION TO REVEALING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF COMETS THEMSELVES, THE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF COMETS HOLD UNIQUE CLUES TO CONDITIONS IN THE EARLY SOLAR NEBULA, THE SOLAR SYSTEM'S FORMATION PROCESSES, AND EVEN THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE ON EARTH AS INFLUENCED BY COMET IMPACTS OVER THE PAST 4.6 BILLION YEARS. THE GOALS OF OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH ARE TO MEASURE ROTATION PERIODS AND DETERMINE POLE ORIENTATIONS, UNDERSTAND THE PHYSICAL INTERRELATION OF GAS WITH DUST IN COMETARY COMAE, DERIVE ACCURATE LIFETIMES AND VELOCITIES FOR OBSERVED SPECIES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE PARENTS, AND DETERMINE HOW THE PRODUCTION OF MATERIAL FROM THE SURFACE OF EACH NUCLEUS VARIES WITH TIME AND SOLAR ILLUMINATION (I.E. THE DETAILED SOURCE FUNCTION). MANY COMETS EXHIBIT SIGNIFICANT SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN MEASURED GAS AND DUST PRODUCTION RATES, WHILE A SUB-SET SHOW VARIATIONS IN COMA COMPOSITION WITH SEASON, IMPLYING COMPOSITIONAL INHOMOGENEITIES AMONG SOURCE REGIONS. WE WILL CONDUCT DETAILED ANALYSES OF DUST AND GAS JETS AS A FUNCTION OF ROTATION AND VIEWING GEOMETRY BY APPLICATION OF OUR 3-D MONTE CARLO COMA/JET MODEL. RESULTS FROM THE PROPOSED PROJECTS WILL ENABLE US TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MOLECULAR PARAMETERS IN COMETARY ATMOSPHERES AND OF THE PHYSICAL NATURE, LOCATION, AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ACTIVE SOURCE REGIONS ON THE NUCLEUS. WE WILL OBTAIN CCD IMAGING USING NARROWBAND FILTERS TO ISOLATE SEVERAL GAS SPECIES AND THE DUST IN COMETS 45P/HONDA-MRKOS-PAJDUSAKOVA, 49P/AREND-RIGAUX, P/LEVY (2006 T1), 189P/NEAT, AND 2P/ENCKE, AS WELL AS CONDUCT OBSERVING CAMPAIGNS FOR OTHER APPROPRIATE NEWLY-DISCOVERED LONG-PERIOD COMETS. FOR SUFFICIENTLY BRIGHT TARGETS, COORDINATED MM-WAVE IMAGING OF HCN ARE ALSO PLANNED. COMET HONDA-MRKOS-PAJDUSAKOVA WILL HAVE AN EXCEPTIONALLY CLOSE APPROACH TO EARTH, PERMITTING A WIDE RANGE OF VIEWING GEOMETRIES. ENCKE EXHIBITED AN EXTREMELY ASYMMETRIC GAS COMA DURING 2003; IN 2013 IT WILL BE EASILY VIEWABLE FROM GREATLY DIFFERING GEOMETRIES WHEN IT IS AT THE SAME POSITION IN ITS ORBIT, ALLOWING A DEFINITIVE 3-D MODEL TO BE CREATED. COMET AREND-RIGAUX, HAVING ITS BEST NORTHERN-HEMISPHERE APPARITION SINCE 1984, IS A VERY ANEMIC COMET, BUT IT IS UNKNOWN IF ITS LIMITED COMA ORIGINATES FROM ONE OR MORE SMALL SOURCE REGIONS OR ISOTROPIC LEAKAGE THROUGH THE CRUST. ANALYSES OF ONGOING OR PLANNED OBSERVATIONS OF COMETS 10P/TEMPEL 2 AND 103P/HARTLEY 2, RESPECTIVELY, WILL ALSO BE CONDUCTED IN THIS PROJECT; HARTLEY 2 WILL HAVE AN EXCEPTIONALLY CLOSE APPROACH TO EARTH THIS FALL, SIMULTANEOUS WITH ITS ENCOUNTER BY NASA'S EPOXI MISSION, AND OUR LONGER TEMPORAL BASELINE WILL PROVIDE IMPORTANT CONTEXT FOR EPOXI'S VERY BRIEF FLYBY OBSERVATIONS.

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• $93,169 - Friday the 10th of June 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WE PROPOSE A LARGE SCALE COMPOSITIONAL SURVEY OF THE KUIPER BELT USING THE NEW INNOVATIVE LOW-RESOLUTION NEAR-INFRARED HIGH-THROUGHPUT SPECTROGRAPH (NIHTS) TO BE DEPLOYED ON THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE (DCT) BEING BUILT BY LOWELL OBSERVATORY. NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY IS THE BEST AVAILABLE DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR DETERMINING SURFACE COMPOSITION OF KUIPER BELT OBJECTS (KBOS). CURRENTLY ONLY DOZENS OF THE -1300 KNOWN KBOS HAVE BEEN SPECTROSCOPICALLY OBSERVED AND MOST OF THESE ARE UNUSUALLY BRIGHT OR LARGE OBJECTS. OUR SPECTRAL SURVEY WILL INCLUDE>350 OBJECTS AND REACH SIGNIFICANTLY FAINTER MAGNITUDES THAN PREVIOUS WORK. IN ADDITION TO THE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY, WE WILL OBTAIN NEAR-SIMULTANEOUS VISIBLE PHOTOMETRY FOR MOST OBJECTS, ENABLED BY THE ABILITY ON DCT TO SWITCH BETWEEN THE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROGRAPH AND OPTICAL IMAGER IN<30 SECONDS. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL CREATE A HIGHLY COMPELLING DATASET, MAPPING OUT THE SPECTRAL DIVERSITY OF KBOS AND ENABLING US TO INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHEMISTRY, COLLISIONS, AND DYNAMICS THROUGH THE HISTORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED INSTRUMENT, TO BE BUILT UNDER A PLANETARY MAJOR EQUIPMENT ADDENDUM TO THE PROPOSAL, WILL EMPLOY A PICNIC ARRAY WITH A LOW-DISPERSION PRISM AND BE HIGHLY OPTIMIZED TO OBTAIN LOW-RESOLUTION SPECTRA (R=100) OF FAINT MOVING TARGETS. THIS IS A 5 YEAR PROPOSAL WITH APPROXIMATELY 2 YEARS TO BUILD AND COMMISSION THE INSTRUMENT AND 3 YEARS TO CONDUCT THE SURVEY. LOWELL OBSERVATORY HAS MADE A SIGNIFICANT COMMITMENT OF TELESCOPE TIME AND COST-SHARING FUNDS TOWARD THE SUCCESS OF THIS INSTRUMENT AND SURVEY. THE PROPOSED INSTRUMENT AND SURVEY ARE DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE STRATEGIC GOALS AND TARGETED OUTCOMES OF NASA AND THE PLANETARY ASTRONOMY PROGRAM. THE INSTRUMENT WILL ALSO BE USEFUL FOR OTHER PROJECTS RELEVANT TO NASA STRATEGIC GOALS AND FUNDING PROGRAMS BEYOND JUST PLANETARY ASTRONOMY.

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• $92,802 - Friday the 10th of June 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WE PROPOSE A LARGE SCALE COMPOSITIONAL SURVEY OF THE KUIPER BELT USING THE NEW INNOVATIVE LOW-RESOLUTION NEAR-INFRARED HIGH-THROUGHPUT SPECTROGRAPH (NIHTS) TO BE DEPLOYED ON THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE (DCT) BEING BUILT BY LOWELL OBSERVATORY. NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY IS THE BEST AVAILABLE DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR DETERMINING SURFACE COMPOSITION OF KUIPER BELT OBJECTS (KBOS). CURRENTLY ONLY DOZENS OF THE -1300 KNOWN KBOS HAVE BEEN SPECTROSCOPICALLY OBSERVED AND MOST OF THESE ARE UNUSUALLY BRIGHT OR LARGE OBJECTS. OUR SPECTRAL SURVEY WILL INCLUDE>350 OBJECTS AND REACH SIGNIFICANTLY FAINTER MAGNITUDES THAN PREVIOUS WORK. IN ADDITION TO THE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY, WE WILL OBTAIN NEAR-SIMULTANEOUS VISIBLE PHOTOMETRY FOR MOST OBJECTS, ENABLED BY THE ABILITY ON DCT TO SWITCH BETWEEN THE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROGRAPH AND OPTICAL IMAGER IN<30 SECONDS. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL CREATE A HIGHLY COMPELLING DATASET, MAPPING OUT THE SPECTRAL DIVERSITY OF KBOS AND ENABLING US TO INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHEMISTRY, COLLISIONS, AND DYNAMICS THROUGH THE HISTORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED INSTRUMENT, TO BE BUILT UNDER A PLANETARY MAJOR EQUIPMENT ADDENDUM TO THE PROPOSAL, WILL EMPLOY A PICNIC ARRAY WITH A LOW-DISPERSION PRISM AND BE HIGHLY OPTIMIZED TO OBTAIN LOW-RESOLUTION SPECTRA (R=100) OF FAINT MOVING TARGETS. THIS IS A 5 YEAR PROPOSAL WITH APPROXIMATELY 2 YEARS TO BUILD AND COMMISSION THE INSTRUMENT AND 3 YEARS TO CONDUCT THE SURVEY. LOWELL OBSERVATORY HAS MADE A SIGNIFICANT COMMITMENT OF TELESCOPE TIME AND COST-SHARING FUNDS TOWARD THE SUCCESS OF THIS INSTRUMENT AND SURVEY. THE PROPOSED INSTRUMENT AND SURVEY ARE DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE STRATEGIC GOALS AND TARGETED OUTCOMES OF NASA AND THE PLANETARY ASTRONOMY PROGRAM. THE INSTRUMENT WILL ALSO BE USEFUL FOR OTHER PROJECTS RELEVANT TO NASA STRATEGIC GOALS AND FUNDING PROGRAMS BEYOND JUST PLANETARY ASTRONOMY.

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• $750,499 - Tuesday the 12th of June 2012
  Department Of Navy
  NAVSUP FLT LOG CTR NORFOLK
  FY13 - NPOI MAINTENANCE

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• $70,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  PLUTO IS THE SMALLEST AND MOST DISTANT SOLAR SYSTEM BODY KNOWN TO HAVE A SIGNI CANT ATMOSPHERE AND ITS ATMOSPHERE FACES THE MOST DRAMATIC SEASONAL INSOLATION VARIATION OF ANY KNOWN ATMOSPHERE IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. AT PRESENT, 21 YEARS PAST PERIHELION, PLUTO'S N2/CH4 ATMOSPHERE IS MAINTAINED BY SUBLIMATION OF SURFACE ICES. THROUGH RADIATIVE PROCESSES METHANE PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN SETTING THE STRUCTURE AND DENSITY OF PLUTO'S ATMOSPHERE. OBSERVATIONS OF ATMOSPHERIC METHANE CAN HELP DETERMINE SEVERAL UNKNOWN OR POORLY CONSTRAINED FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES. OBSERVATIONS OF PLUTO'S ATMOSPHERIC METHANE IN THE YEARS LEADING UP TO THE 2015 NEW HORIZONS FLYBY ARE IMPORTANT AS CONTEXTUAL OBSERVATIONS FOR THE SPACECRAFT DATA THAT WILL BE RETURNED. AN ADDITIONAL INTERESTING QUESTION IS WHETHER ERIS OR MAKEMAKE, TWO RECENTLY DISCOVERED DWARF PLANETS WITH SOLID METHANE ON THEIR SURFACES, MIGHT HOST TENUOUS ATMOSPHERES CONTAINING METHANE. THE BEST WAY TO OBSERVE ATMOSPHERIC METHANE IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM IS WITH HIGH-RESOLUTION NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY TO ALLOW SEPARATION OF THE ATMOSPHERIC LINES FROM TELLURIC METHANE LINES AND THE SPECTRAL SIGNATURE OF SOLID METHANE ON THE BODY'S SURFACE. DURING 2006-2010 WE ACQUIRED A TIME SERIES ON PLUTO OF SUCH SPECTRA WITH NIRSPEC AT KECK II OVER 9 HALF-NIGHTS. ADDITIONALLY, WE HAVE ACQUIRED SIMILAR OBSERVATIONS OF ERIS AND MAKEMAKE. THIS PROJECT INVOLVES ENTIRELY EXISTING DATA, THE ACQUISITION OF WHICH WAS LARGELY FUNDED BY NASA, BOTH DIRECTLY THROUGH KECK OBSERVING SUPPORT GRANTS FOR TRAVEL AND SALARY AND INDIRECTLY THROUGH NASA'S FUNDING OF KECK OBSERVATORY. WE ARE REQUESTING FUNDING FOR A GRADUATE STUDENT TO FULLY REDUCE, ANALYZE, AND INTERPRET THESE DATA AS PART OF THEIR DISSERTATION RESEARCH. ANALYSIS OF THE PLUTO TIME SERIES WILL HELP ANSWER BASIC QUESTIONS, INCLUDING: WHAT IS THE ABUNDANCE OF METHANE IN PLUTO'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE? WHAT IS THE TEMPERATURE/PRESSURE STRUCTURE AND METHANE ABUNDANCE IN PLUTO'S TROPOSPHERE? IS THERE A HAZE LAYER IN PLUTO'S LOWER ATMOSPHERE? DURING THIS PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE INSOLATION PATTERN ON PLUTO, HOW HAS THE ATMOSPHERIC STRUCTURE AND METHANE ABUNDANCE EVOLVED? ANALYSIS OF THE ERIS AND MAKEMAKE DATA WILL EITHER LEAD TO THE DISCOVERY THAT ONE OR BOTH OF THESE BODIES IS SURROUNDED BY AN ATMOSPHERE OR PROVIDE AN INTERESTING UPPER LIMIT ON ANY METHANE ATMOSPHERE.

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