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M. Chin

Publications and source records attributed to M. Chin.

5 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) Near Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS).

NASA’s VIPER mission is planned for delivery to the lunar surface in late 2023 [1]. VIPER’s science objectives are to: 1) characterize the distribution and physical state of lunar polar water and other volatiles in lunar cold traps and regolith to under-stand their origin and 2) provide the data necessary for NASA to evaluate the potential return of relying upon in-situ resource utilization from the lunar polar regions [1]. The NIRVSS instrument, matured through several R&D programs to TRL 6 [2,3,4], has been chosen as part of the VIPER science payload [5].

T. L. Roush↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The ExCALiBR Instrument for Lipid-Based Life Detection on Mars

Lipids are key molecular targets to search for evidence of life, as they can reveal information about life processes and their chemical origins (Georgiou and Deamer, 2014). Essential for terrestrial life and likely required for putative extraterrestrial organisms, lipids make up the membranes that separate cell contents from an external environment. They are well preserved in the geologic record, some recording the activity of organisms that lived over a billion years ago (Eigenbrode, 2008), an order of magnitude longer than other types of molecular biosignatures. Lipids are also synthesized abiotically, making up ~60% of soluble organics detected in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites (Sephton, 2005). However, there are numerous challenges to the successful detection of relevant lipids in situ, including interference by inorganics, molecular complexity of the lipids, limitations on their solubility, and low lipid abundance

M. B. Wilhelm↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mapping Modeled Aerosol Species to Measured Lidar Ratios for the MIRA Project

Overarching goal: Create Climatological Lidar Ratio Maps for CALIPSO - Since CALIPSO is an elastic backscatter lidar, it is necessary to select a priori aerosol lidar ratios prior to computing extinction profiles. - Presently, the CALIPSO lidar ratio selection process uses a single lidar ratio for each of the 7 CALIPSO aerosol types in the troposphere. - Consequently, regional and seasonal variability of the lidar ratio is very limited in the present CALIPSO algorithm. - Here, we describe an approach for creating new climatological lidar ratio maps for each of the CALIPSO aerosol types using MODIS-CALIPSO constrained retrievals and global model simulations. - The purpose is to eventually replace the seven single-valued lidar ratios for the CALIPSO types with latitude- and longitude-dependent maps for each of the seven types.

G. L. Schuster↗