THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS THE LABORATORY INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF MOLECULES OF IMPORTANCE IN THE ATMOSPHERES OF TITAN AND THE GIANT PLANETS. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST ARE THE HYDROCARBONS ETHANE AND PROPANE. WE WILL DELIVER HIGH RESOLUTION INFRARED ABSORPTION CROSS SECTIONS FOR THESE SPECIES FOR AN APPROPRIATE SET OF TEMPERATURES PRESSURES AND COMPOSITIONS TO MATCH TYPICAL PLANETARY ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS. OUR CROSS SECTIONS ARE NEEDED FOR RELIABLE RETRIEVALS OF TRACE GAS CONCENTRATIONS AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. THE PROPOSAL CONTRIBUTES TO THE OUTER PLANETS RESEARCH PROGRAM BY: DEVELOPMENT OF BASIC THEORY LABORATORY STUDIES AND/OR MODELING RELEVANT TO THE INTERPRETATION OF MISSION DATA OUR LABORATORY DATA IS NEEDED FOR EXAMPLE TO SUPPORT CASSINI OBSERVATIONS OF TITAN SATURN AND JUPITER AS WELL AS MEASUREMENTS MADE WITH GROUND-BASED AND SPACE-BASED TELESCOPES OF THE OUTER PLANETS AND THEIR SATELLITES.

Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Norfolk VA

Investigators