SULFUR IS THE TENTH MOST ABUNDANT ELEMENT IN THE GALAXY AND SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS REVEAL A RANGE OF DIFFERENT SPECIES SOME ARE IONIZED SOME ARE RADICALS SOME ARE GROUND STATE. ALL OF THESE SPECIES HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE AFFECTED BY PHOTOCHEMISTRY. SULFUR ALSO HAS A RICH CHEMISTRY WITH MANY DIFFERENT BONDS MAKING IDEAL FOR PRODUCING A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF ISOTOPIC SIGNATURES.TWO FINDINGS WITH CM CHONDRITES INDICATE THAT SULFUR COMPOUNDS IN THESE METEORITES PRESERVE SIGNATURES OF THIS CHEMISTRY - A SINGULAR FINDING OF WATER-SOLUBLE SULFONIC ACIDS BY COOPER ET AL. (1997) AND ANOTHER FINDING BY LABIDI ET AL. (2016) INVOLVING ELEMENTAL AND OTHER ZERO VALENT SULFUR SPECIES. THESE SIGNATURE IMPLICATE PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS POINT TO A LOW TEMPERATURE ORIGIN BUT THEIR ORIGIN IS POORLY UNDERSTOOD. THE TEAM ON THIS PROPOSAL WILL ISOLATE THESE COMPOUNDS FROM CM CHONDRITES REFINE THE RANGE OF COMPOUNDS THAT HAVE BEEN ISOLATED AND EXPLORE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE COMPOUNDS (THEIR EXISTENCE AND COMPOSITION) TO PLACE CONSTRAINTS ON THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR THEIR FORMATION TRANSFER AND PRESERVATION. THESE CONSTRAINTS WILL PROVIDE DIRECT INSIGHTS INTO CONDITIONS THAT PREVAILED IN THE REGIONS OF THE SOLAR NEBULA WHERE THESE COMPOUNDS WERE FORMED AND ABOUT HOW SULFUR IS SPECIATED IN PRIMITIVE METEORITIC MATERIALS - INFORMATION THAT IS NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE PROCESSES THAT ULTIMATELY DELIVERED SULFUR TO DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOLAR SYSTEM MATERIALS. THE WORK WILL INCLUDE A VARIETY OF LABORATORY AND PETROGRAPHIC STUDIES OF METEORITE SAMPLES. IT WILL USE STATE OF THE ART TECHNIQUES FOR ISOLATION OF THESE COMPOUNDS AND SULFUR CARBON HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN ISOTOPE ANALYSES.
$385,963FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD