Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2018 Annual Meeting of the APS Four Corners Section
Volume 63, Number 16
Friday–Saturday, October 12–13, 2018; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Session N01: Plenary III |
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Chair: Stacy Palen, Weber State University Room: Aline Wilmot Skaggs Biology Building 220 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:20PM - 2:56PM |
N01.00001: Exploring the Surface of Mars with the Curiosity Rover Neutron Detector Invited Speaker: Craig Hardgrove The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has acquired thousands of measurements at the surface of Mars over the past six years. DAN measures thermal and epithermal neutron counts between pulses of a 14.1 MeV D-T pulsed neutron generator. The resulting neutron die-away curves can be used to interpret the bulk hydration, subsurface geology, and layering structure of the shallow subsurface of Curiosity’s landing site in Gale Crater. Analyses of DAN data have characterized the hydration and extent of high-silica materials at several locations along the rover's traverse. DAN data have also been used to characterize the bulk hydration of active sand dunes, which were determined to be some of the least hydrated features Curiosity has investigated. The hydration state of the dunes can then be used to constrain the abundance of amorphous phases within the dune sand, which is an important indicator for environmental conditions during sediment transport as well as providing information about the composition of the source material. DAN is the first neutron measurements made on the surface of another planet, and interpretations of these highly localized neutron data requires a careful approach to simulations, geochemical modeling, and geologic settings in order to test hypotheses at the site. DAN active observations across the rover traverse provide planetary scientists with a rich nuclear dataset that will help unravel the geologic history of Gale Crater. The success of the DAN instrument demonstrates the value of nuclear instrumentation in planetary science investigations. |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:56PM - 3:32PM |
N01.00002: Select Science Results from the NuSTAR X-ray Observatory Invited Speaker: Daniel R Wik Launched in 2012, NuSTAR is the first observatory capable of focusing energetic (>10 keV) X-rays, allowing sensitive studies of a wide range of objects, including the remnants of exploded stars, massive and supermassive black holes, and the hot gas in massive galaxy clusters. I’ll highlight some of the discoveries made so far with NuSTAR, emphasizing what can be learned from deep observations of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the cosmic X-ray background. |
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