Establishment of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Center of Instrumentation and Science for Planetary Surfaces

University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR

Investigators

Abstract

An Arkansas-Oklahoma Center of Instrumentation and Science for Planetary Surfaces will be established at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and Oklahoma State University, Stillwater campuses. The Center will enable the development of state-of-the-arts facilities for the creation of instrumentation for robotics exploration of planets in the solar system and establish a critical mass of researchers with diverse but synergistic interests. Core faculty, with unique expertise in remote geo-sensing, luminescence dating, and platform engineering prototypes, will form the nucleus of the Center. Moreover, the center will provide facilities and infrastructure that will bring together researchers in the Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Physics departments at the University of Arkansas and Oklahoma State University. The proposed research is based on: simulation of modern and ancient surfaces of meteorites and related materials, luminescence dating of Martian water-formed sediments, search for Martian life by strictly controlled exploration of conditions which could support a particular type of life (methanogens), and platform experiments which involve in-situ gas generation for inflatable structures which could eventually be deployed on Mars and other bodies. All of the projects envisaged for the Center, including outreach, will have industrial partners ready to utilize the Center's work as opportunities arise.