ORIGINAL PROPOSAL ADDRESSED ASTROBIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS FOR THE POINT OF VIEW OF THREE TYPES OF OBSERVATIONS: MODULE (1) COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF SPECTRA FROM WARM EXTRASOLAR JUPITERS; MODULE (2) ISOTOPIC RATIOS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM BY OBSERVING GIANT PLANETS TRITON PLUTO CHARON AND TITAN; MODULE (3) GLOBAL MONITORING OF MARS AND TITAN FOR TEMPORAL CHANGES.THE PROGRAM AND ITS RATIONALE REMAIN MUCH THE SAME ALTHOUGH SOME OBJECTS HAVE BEEN ADDED AND OTHERS DROPPED BASED ON MORE RECENT DATA AND NEW METHODS OF OBSERVATIONS. WITH THE DEMONSTRATED UTILITY OF TRANSIT OBSERVATIONS OF EXOPLANETS THE METHOD OF OBSERVATIONS OF EXTRASOLAR PLANETS IN MODULE (1) HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM CORONAGRAPHY TO TRANSITS. THE SOLAR SYSTEM'S GIANT PLANETS WILL BE DROPPED FROM MODULE (2) BECAUSE OF PROBLEMS IN DEALING WITH THE LARGE BRIGHTNESSES OF JUPITER AND SATURN (NORWOOD ET AL. 2016) AND HERSCHEL HAS ALREADY MEASURED HD IN URANUS AND NEPTUNE. WE WILL ADD ERIS NOT YET DISCOVERED WHEN THE ORIGINAL PROPOSAL WAS WRITTEN TO THE LIST OF KBO'S TO OBSERVE. MODULE (3) REMAINS THE SAME EXCEPT MORE EMPHASIS WILL BE PLACED ON TITAN RATHER THAN ASSIGNING EQUAL TIME TO IT AND MARS.WE REGARD THESE AS MINOR CHANGES AND PROVIDE ONLY UPDATES TO THE OBSERVING PROGRAM IN EACH OF THE MODULES. THE SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS REMAIN ESSENTIALLY THE SAME.NOTE WE ARE ALSO REQUESTING SUPPORT FOR MAINTAINING CASSIS THE CORNELL ATLAS OF SPITZER IRS SOURCES AS A GENERAL RESOURCE FOR THE COMMUNITY IN PLANNING JWST OBSERVATIONS.
$879,356FY2017National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Cornell University, Ithaca NY