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THE PLANETARY SCIENCE COMMUNITY DEPENDS ON ACCURATE SURFACE AGE ESTIMATES FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF STUDIES AND EXCEPT FOR EARTH IMPACT CRATER-BASED AGE MODELING IS THE ONLY WIDESPREAD METHOD AVAILABLE. TO ESTIMATE CRATER-BASED AGES NEARLY ALL RESEARCHERS USE ONE OF TWO FUNCTIONS THAT MODEL AN UNALTERED CRATER SIZE-FREQUENCY POPULATION: "XXX" (E.G. "XXX" ET AL. 2001) OR "XXX"(E.G. "XXX" 2005). IN APPLICATION THESE TWO MODELS ARE DIFFERENT AND AS SUCH THEY CAN LEAD TO MODEL AGES FOR THE SAME SURFACE THAT DIFFER BY OVER A FACTOR OF 2 FOR MID-SIZED (FEW-KM) CRATERS AND MORE FOR OTHER DIAMETERS. NEARLY A DECADE OF NEW ORBITAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE MOON MARS AND MERCURY HAVE PROVIDED A TREASURE TROVE OF HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGE DATA APPLICABLE TO THIS PROBLEM. HOWEVER NO NEW STUDY HAS BEEN UNDERTAKEN IN THE LAST DECADE AND NO INDEPENDENT ATTEMPT IN SEVERAL DECADES TO SYSTEMATICALLY MEASURE AND DERIVE AN OBSERVATIONAL MODEL OF THE CRATER SIZE-FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION ON THESE SURFACES.WE PROPOSE TO USE HUNDREDS OF THE LATEST IMAGES FROM THESE THREE BODIES TO DIRECTLY MEASURE THE CRATER PRODUCTION FUNCTION (PF) ON THESE SURFACES. WE EXPECT TO MEASURE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF IMPACT CRATERS ON NON-SATURATED VOLCANIC REGIONS AND USE THESE MEASUREMENTS TO DETERMINE A NEW MODEL CRATER PF FOR EACH OF THESE THREE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES. WE EXPECT THAT THE NEW PFS WILL BE MORE ACCURATE THAN EITHER OF THE EXISTING MODELS DUE IN PART TO IMPROVED IMAGE FIDELITY GREATER COMPLETENESS AND MORE CAREFUL EXCLUSION OF SECONDARY CRATERS. IT WILL INCLUDE CONFIDENCE INTERVALS BASED ON THE NUMBER STATISTICS UNLIKE WHAT IS CURRENTLY PUBLISHED. THE PI IS EXPERIENCED IN THESE MEASUREMENTS AND HAS ALREADY ASSEMBLED SOME OF THE DATA REQUIRED FOR THIS WORK AND HE HAS ALSO SHOWN THAT REVISITING BASIC CRATER POPULATIONS WITH NEW DATA CAN RESULT IN SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO VERY IMPORTANT CRATER-RELATED STUDIES ("XXX" 2014 THE LUNAR CRATER CHRONOLOGY). WE EXPECT THE RESULTING PFS WILL SERVE THE PLANETARY GEOLOGY COMMUNITY AS A NEW AND IMPROVED STANDARD FOR DATING SURFACES IN THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM.

$259,702FY2015National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio TX

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THE PLANETARY SCIENCE COMMUNITY DEPENDS ON ACCURATE SURFACE AGE ESTIMATES FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF STUDIES AND EXCEPT FOR EARTH IMPACT CRATER-BASED AGE MODELING IS THE ONLY WIDESPREAD METHOD AVAILABLE. TO ESTIMATE CRATER-BASED AGES NEARLY ALL RESEARCHERS USE ONE OF TWO FUNCTIONS THAT MODEL AN UNALTERED CRATER SIZE-FREQUENCY POPULATION: "XXX" (E.G. "XXX" ET AL. 2001) OR "XXX"(E.G. "XXX" 2005). IN APPLICATION THESE TWO MODELS ARE DIFFERENT AND AS SUCH THEY CAN LEAD TO MODEL AGES FOR THE SAME SURFACE THAT DIFFER BY OVER A FACTOR OF 2 FOR MID-SIZED (FEW-KM) CRATERS AND MORE FOR OTHER DIAMETERS. NEARLY A DECADE OF NEW ORBITAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE MOON MARS AND MERCURY HAVE PROVIDED A TREASURE TROVE OF HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGE DATA APPLICABLE TO THIS PROBLEM. HOWEVER NO NEW STUDY HAS BEEN UNDERTAKEN IN THE LAST DECADE AND NO INDEPENDENT ATTEMPT IN SEVERAL DECADES TO SYSTEMATICALLY MEASURE AND DERIVE AN OBSERVATIONAL MODEL OF THE CRATER SIZE-FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION ON THESE SURFACES.WE PROPOSE TO USE HUNDREDS OF THE LATEST IMAGES FROM THESE THREE BODIES TO DIRECTLY MEASURE THE CRATER PRODUCTION FUNCTION (PF) ON THESE SURFACES. WE EXPECT TO MEASURE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF IMPACT CRATERS ON NON-SATURATED VOLCANIC REGIONS AND USE THESE MEASUREMENTS TO DETERMINE A NEW MODEL CRATER PF FOR EACH OF THESE THREE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES. WE EXPECT THAT THE NEW PFS WILL BE MORE ACCURATE THAN EITHER OF THE EXISTING MODELS DUE IN PART TO IMPROVED IMAGE FIDELITY GREATER COMPLETENESS AND MORE CAREFUL EXCLUSION OF SECONDARY CRATERS. IT WILL INCLUDE CONFIDENCE INTERVALS BASED ON THE NUMBER STATISTICS UNLIKE WHAT IS CURRENTLY PUBLISHED. THE PI IS EXPERIENCED IN THESE MEASUREMENTS AND HAS ALREADY ASSEMBLED SOME OF THE DATA REQUIRED FOR THIS WORK AND HE HAS ALSO SHOWN THAT REVISITING BASIC CRATER POPULATIONS WITH NEW DATA CAN RESULT IN SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO VERY IMPORTANT CRATER-RELATED STUDIES ("XXX" 2014 THE LUNAR CRATER CHRONOLOGY). WE EXPECT THE RESULTING PFS WILL SERVE THE PLANETARY GEOLOGY COMMUNITY AS A NEW AND IMPROVED STANDARD FOR DATING SURFACES IN THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM. · GrantIndex