NEAR INFRARED SPECTRA OF SIZABLE OBJECTS IN THE KUIPER BELT WE PROPOSE TO STUDY THE SURFACE COMPOSITION OF DOZENS OF SIZABLE OBJECTS IN THE KUIPER BELT (AKA SIZABLE KBOS INCLUDING MOONS AND DWARF PLANETS) WITH THE GOAL OF UNDERSTANDING HOW KBO DIVERSITY REFLECTS THEIR ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION (BROWN ET AL. 2011 APJ 739 L60; SCHALLER&BROWN APJ 659 L61; JOHNSON ET AL. 2015 APJ 809 43). THIS IS TIMELY BECAUSE OF NEW OR IMPROVED INSTRUMENTATION (IRTF DCT KECK) AND NEW INSIGHTS FROM NEW HORIZONS ABOUT PROCESSES THAT AFFECT KBO SURFACES INCLUDING: 1) PLUTO'S LOW ESCAPE RATE (GLADSTONE ET AL. 2016 SCIENCE 351 AAD8866) WHICH MOVES THE THEORETICAL LINE BETWEEN VOLATILE-RETAINING AND VOLATILE-FREE KBOS 2) MULTI-SEASON EFFECTS OF SUBLIMATION SUCH AS THE "BLADED TERRAINS" (MOORE ET AL. SCIENCE 351 1284) 3) THE EFFECT OF LATITUDE AND ALTITUDE CONTROL ON COLD TRAPS SURFACE CHEMISTRY AND VOLATILE MIGRATION AS SEEN IN THE RED CAP ON CHARON AND THE LATITUDINAL SORTING OF COMPOSITION ON PLUTO (GRUNDY ET AL. 2016 SCIENCE 351 AAD9189) AND 4) ALTERNATIVE PROCESSES THAT CAN RAISE ALBEDO INCLUDING THE CONVECTIVE OVERTURNING OF THE INFORMALLY NAMED SPUTNIK PLANUM (MOORE ET AL. 2016) OR THE PRECIPITATION OF BRIGHT HAZE PARTICLES (GLADSTONE AT AL. 2016). SURFACE PROCESSES CAN BE PROBED WITH NEAR- AND MID-INFRARED (1-2.5 AND 3-5 M) REFLECTANCE SPECTRA VIA THREE OBJECTIVES: 1) DEEPEN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE KBOS VISITED BY SPACECRAFT 2) INVESTIGATE THE NATURE OF OTHER SELECT KBOS AND 3) EXPLORE A COLLECTION OF KBOS TO REFINE MODELS OF KBO EVOLUTION. METHODOLOGY FOR THE 3 SIZABLE KBOS VISITED BY SPACECRAFT (TRITON PLUTO AND CHARON) WE WILL EXTEND SPACECRAFT SPECTRAL RANGE SPECTRAL RESOLUTION AND TEMPORAL COVERAGE. WE PROPOSE: 1-5 M SPECTRA IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY THE STILL-UNKNOWN REDDENING AGENT ON CHARON AND TO FURTHER UNDERSTAND THE TEMPERATURE AND MICROPHYSICS OF ICES ON PLUTO AND TRITON [KECK LBT]. 0.8-2.5 M SPECTRA TO CONTINUE A ~15-YEAR RECORD OF THE SECULAR CHANGES ON PLUTO AND TRITON [IRTF]. FOR SELECT KBOS WE PROPOSE TO OBTAIN HIGH ENOUGH SIGNAL-TO-NOISE (SNR~20) AND SPECTRAL RESOLUTION (~400) ON 1-2 KBOS/YEAR TO SEARCH FOR AND CHARACTERIZE THE VOLATILE ICES: CH4 N2 AND CO; THE "BEDROCK" H2O (CRYSTALLINE VS. AMORPHOUS) AND CO2; NH3 OR ITS HYDRATE; AND PHOTOCHEMICAL PRODUCTS SUCH AS CH3OH NON-METHANE HYDROCARBONS (C2H2 C2H4 C2H6) AND THOLINS. 1.0 - 2.5 M SPECTRA AT R~400 [GEMINI/GNIRS KECK/NIRES VLT/XSHOOTER]. FOR THE COLLECTION OF KBOS WE PROPOSE TO OBTAIN HIGH ENOUGH SNR(~20) AND SPECTRAL RESOLUTION (~100) ON 4-14 KBOS/YEAR TO SEARCH FOR BROAD ABSORPTION FEATURES DUE TO CH4 AND H2O AND TO QUANTIFY SPECTRAL SLOPES DUE TO PHOTOLYSIS PRODUCTS AND METHANOL (CH3OH). EXAMPLES OF KBOS THAT FIT OUR CRITERIA ARE THOSE THAT HAVE NOT HAD NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRA PUBLISHED PREVIOUSLY ARE LARGE ENOUGH TO HAVE UNDERGONE DIFFERENTIATION OR SMALL ENOUGH TO PROBE A TRANSITION TO REDDER COLORS THAT INDICATES UNIQUE SURFACE PROCESSES. 0.8 - 2.5 M SPECTRA AT R~100 [IRTF DCT]. RELEVANCE TO ROSES/SSO UNDERSTANDING THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF SIZABLE KBOS RELATES TO ALL THREE OF THE 2013-2022 DECADAL SURVEY THEMES: BUILDING NEW WORLDS WORKINGS OF SOLAR SYSTEMS AND PLANETARY HABITATS. THE PROPOSED WORK IS EXCLUSIVELY GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS OF BODIES IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND FALLS UNDER THE SCOPE OF SSO. THE OBJECTIVES CANNOT BE MET BY CURRENT MISSIONS: VOYAGER AND NEW HORIZONS ARE FAR PAST THEIR TARGETS AND NO OTHER SPACECRAFT CAN MEASURE KBOS AT SUFFICIENT RESOLUTION AND SNR IN THE NEAR-INFRARED. THE AO STATES "GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS THAT COMPLEMENT NASA MISSIONS RETURNING SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF DATA WITHIN THE NEXT THREE YEARS ARE ESPECIALLY ENCOURAGED." THE PROPOSED OBSERVATIONS WILL COMPLEMENT DATA BEING RETURNED BY THE NEW HORIZONS PRIME (PLUTO-SYSTEM) MISSION AND IF APPROVED THE EXTENDED MISSION.