PDS: The Planetary Atmospheres Node
Cover Page/Proposal Summary
Planetary Atmospheres
Cover Page/Proposal Summary
ROSS-99 NRA 99-OSS-01
Date Due: 5/3/99
|
This proposal shall be used and disclosed for evaluation purposes only, and a copy of this Government notice shall be applied to any reproduction or abstract thereof. Any authorized restrictive notices that the submitter places on this proposal shall also be strictly complied with. Disclosure of this proposal for any reason outside the Government evaluation purposes shall be made only to the extent authorized by the Government. |
| Proposal Type: New Proposal |
| Proposal Category: Atmosphere Structures and Particles |
| Major Equipment Proposal? No |
| Do you intend to submit an Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) proposal? Yes |
| Proposal Title: |
| Laboratory Measurement of the Formation, Photolysis, and Spectral Properties of Giant-Planet Cloud Condensates |
| Abbreviated Proposal Title: |
| Laboratory Measurements of Jovian Cloud Materials |
| Principal Investigator: |
| Dr.
Robert Carlson Earth and Space Sciences Division Mail Stop 183-601 Jet Propulsion Lab. 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109-8099 Phone: 818-354-2648 Fax: 818-393-3218 E-mail: rcarlson@issac.jpl.nasa.gov |
| Signature | Date |
| _____________________________________ | ____________ |
| Co-Investigators and Collaborators: | |||
| Type | Name | Affiliation | |
| Sci Co-I | Mr. Mark S Anderson | JPL | msanders@jpl.na sa.gov |
| Sci Co-I | Prof. Fred W. Taylor | Oxford Univ. | fwt@atm.ox.ac.uk |
| Sci Co-I | Prof. Patrick J. Irwin | Oxford Univ. | irwin@atm.ox.ac.uk |
Proposal Summary:
The clouds of the Jovian planets may be more complex than considered in current models. Species such as ammonium hydrosulfide, ammonium sulfide, ammonium polysulfide and others are possible, but no thermodynamic data exists for them at the required temperatures. Further, the spectral properties of the sulfide and polysulfides are unknown. The primary goal is to study the products formed from the binary system of NH3 and H2S as functions of temperature and partial pressure, simulating Jovian conditions. Such products include NH4HS, (NH4)2S, (NH4)2Sx, (NH4)2S*xNH4HS and (NH4)2S*2NH3. Species identification, rates of formation, and spectral properties (0.2 to 50 microns) will be obtained for these products. Reference spectra will also be obtained using independent chemical synthesis. We will also irradiate the products with ultraviolet and visible radiation (spectrally filtered) and determine the photolysis products, their spectra, rates of formation, and the production of cloud colors. A systematic and methodical two-year program is proposed. It uses existing equipment The project involves two US investigators and the atmospheric research group from Oxford University. A research student from the University will participate at JPL for extended periods, providing large cost savings to NASA.
