CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES (CCS) ARE ONE OF THE MOST PRIMITIVE MATERIALS WHICH WERE FORMED IN THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM AND DID NOT EXPERIENCE ANY DIFFERENTIATION OTHER THAN SOME DEGREES OF THERMAL METAMORPHISM. KNOWLEDGE OF THE HELIOCENTRIC DISTANCE AND SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS OF CC PARENT BODIES WILL GREATLY CONTRIBUTE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRIMORDIAL DISTRIBUTION AND LATER MOVEMENT OF RAW MATERIALS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. FOR IDENTIFYING SUCH CC PARENT BODIES VISIBLE AND INFRARED (VIR) REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY EXTENDING TO ABOUT 4 MICRON IN WAVELENGTH IS ONE OF THE MOST USEFUL TECHNIQUES. HOWEVER NOT MUCH IS KNOWN ABOUT THE EFFECT OF PARTICLE SIZE VIEWING GEOMETRY AND SPACE WEATHERING (SW) ON THE VIR SPECTRA OF CCS. IN THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH BIDIRECTIONAL VIR REFLECTANCE SPECTRA OF CHIPS FINE (<125 MICRON) AND COARSE (125-500 MICRON) POWDERS AND FINE POWDER PELLETS OF ABOUT 7 REPRESENTATIVE CCS (TAGISH LAKE CI CM CV CO CK AND DEHYDRATED CI/CM) WILL BE OBTAINED UNDER UP TO 4 DIFFERENT PHASE ANGLES OF 15 30 45 AND 60 DEGREES. THE CHIP AND PELLET SAMPLES WILL ALSO BE IRRADIATED WITH PULSE LASER TO SIMULATE SW AND THEIR VIR SPECTRAL CHANGES WILL BE STUDIED. BIDIRECTIONAL REFLECTANCE SPECTRA OVER THE 3-MICRON HYDRATION BAND RANGE WILL BE OBTAINED BY MEASURING EACH SAMPLE AFTER HEATING IT AT 200 C IN VACUUM TO REMOVE THE EFFECT OF ADSORBED WATER AND EXTRAPOLATING THE SPECTRAL CHANGE. IN ADDITION X-RAY DIFFRACTION MEASUREMENTS WILL BE PERFORMED ON THE PELLET SAMPLES BEFORE AND AFTER PULSE-LASER IRRADIATION TO SEE ANY CHANGES IN THE MINERAL ASSEMBLAGE. THE OBTAINED VIR SPECTRA WILL BE ANALYZED TO DERIVE A SET OF SPECTRAL PARAMETERS AS INDICES FOR PARTICLE SIZE AND SW DEGREE AND THEIR PHASE ANGLE DEPENDENCE. THE DATA WILL ALSO BE COMPARED WITH ASTEROID SPECTRA TAKEN BY AKARI TO DEMONSTRATE IDENTIFYING THEIR METEORITE COUNTERPARTS AND POSSIBLY DETECT ADSORBED WATER. IN THIS MANNER THIS STUDY WILL CREATE A VALUABLE DATABASE AND A SET OF KEY SPECTRAL PARAMETERS FOR IDENTIFYING CC PARENT BODIES THROUGH GROUND-BASED TELESCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OR SPACECRAFT MISSIONS. OUR WORK IS RELEVANT TO THIS PROGRAM IN THAT IT WILL ENHANCE UNDERSTANDING OF PRIMITIVE MATERIALS AND VOLATILES IN THE FORMATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM CONSISTENT WITH THE GOALS OF THE EMERGING WORLDS PROGRAM AND NASA S PARTICULAR INTEREST IN RESEARCH PROJECTS THAT CLOSELY SUPPORT ITS MISSION OF EXPLORING THE SOLAR SYSTEM SUCH AS OSIRIS-REX.