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THE ORIGINAL SOLAR ISOTOPIC AND ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES CONSTITUTE AN IMPORTANT REFERENCE POINT FROM WHICH ALL OTHER SOLAR-SYSTEM COMPOSITIONS CAN BE COMPARED. THE OVERALL GOAL OF THE GENESIS SOLAR-WIND SAMPLE RETURN MISSION WAS TO PROVIDE THIS COMPOSITIONAL DATABASE. HOWEVER IN ORDER TO DETERMINE SOLAR COMPOSITIONS FROM SOLAR WIND THE LATTER MUST BE CORRECTED FOR FRACTIONATION WHICH OCCURS BOTH FOR ISOTOPE RATIOS AND ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES. SOME PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN CONSTRAINING THE FIRST-IONIZATION POTENTIAL (FIP) FRACTIONATION THAT CHARACTERIZES ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES BUT THERE IS AS YET NO COMPREHENSIVE THEORY THAT EXPLAINS THIS FRACTIONATION AND MORE IMPORTANTLY EXTENDS TO PREDICTING THE CORRECT ISOTOPIC FRACTIONATION. . A KEY PIECE OF INFORMATION IS THAT THE SUN PRODUCES DIFFERENT TYPES OR REGIMES OF SOLAR WIND WHICH DIFFER IN THEIR FRACTIONATION. THE FAST SOLAR WIND IS LESS FRACTIONATED THAN OTHER WIND REGIMES AND MAY BE CLOSE TO THE ACTUAL SOLAR COMPOSITION. GENESIS PROVIDED SAMPLES OF EACH OF THE THREE SOLAR-WIND REGIMES. REGIME-SPECIFIC SAMPLES HAVE BEEN ANALYZED FOR LIGHT NOBLE GASES (HE NE AR) AND ARE BEING ANALYZED FOR SEVERAL LOW-FIP ELEMENTS. HOWEVER KEY ELEMENTS OF INTERMEDIATE FIP C N AND O HAVE NOT YET BEEN ANALYZED. THESE ELEMENTS ARE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT AS THEY BOUND THE TRANSITION BETWEEN LOW-FIP AND HIGH-FIP FRACTIONATIONS A KEY PIECE OF EVIDENCE TO MATCH TO SOLAR-WIND FRACTIONATION THEORY. WE PROPOSE TO ANALYZE THESE ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES IN REGIME-SPECIFIC SAMPLES USING AN ION PROBE. WE WILL USE THE BACK-THINNING SAMPLE TECHNIQUE SUCCESSFULLY APPLIED FOR ANALYSIS OF SEVERAL OTHER ELEMENTS IN GENESIS SAMPLES. THIS ALLOWS THE ION PROBE TO BEGIN ITS PROFILE FROM THE BACK OF THE IMPLANT REGION IN AN AREA FREE OF SURFACE CONTAMINATION AVOIDING DRIVING SURFACE CONTAMINANTS FARTHER INTO THE IMPLANT REGION. . TO SUPPORT THESE MEASUREMENTS WE PROPOSE TO PROVIDE COMPARISONS WITH ELEMENTAL COMPOSITIONS PROVIDED BY THE ULYSSES SWICS INSTRUMENT ACROSS SEVERAL SOLAR CYCLES TO UNDERSTAND THE LONG-TERM STABILITY OF SOLAR-WIND COMPOSITIONS. THIS FOLLOWS AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY WE MADE WITH ACE SWICS DATA SHOWING FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT THE VELOCITY-DEPENDENT COMPONENT OF THE SOLAR WIND IS MASS FRACTIONATED. THE NEWLY RE-CALIBRATED ULYSSES DATA PROVIDES A MUCH LONGER TIME WINDOW TO STUDY THIS AND RELATED PHENOMENA THAT ARE CRITICAL TO PLACING THE GENESIS MEASUREMENTS IN THEIR PROPER CONTEXT. . THIS PROPOSAL RESPONDS IN THE BROADEST SENSE TO THE LARS GOAL WHICH IS TO MAXIMIZE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN FROM THE SAMPLES PROVIDED BY GENESIS . WE PROPOSE TO PERFORM CRITICAL SAMPLE ANALYSES IDENTIFIED AMONG THE TOP 4 ANALYTICAL OBJECTIVES OF THE GENESIS MISSION AND SUPPORT THESE MEASUREMENTS WITH A BROADER STUDY TO PLACE ALL GENESIS SAMPLE MEASUREMENTS IN THEIR PROPER CONTEXT FROM WHICH SOLAR ISOTOPIC AND ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES CAN BE DETERMINED.

$44,669FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Montana, Missoula MT

Investigators

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