Astrophysicists Receive NASA Grants for Venus, Mars, Titan Research

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Vincent Chevrier.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Researchers at the University of Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences have received three NASA grants totaling more than $1 million to study conditions on Venus, Mars and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

The grants focus on the study of surface liquids and volatile compounds on the unique planetary environments.

Specifically, the grants are:

• A three-year, $434,000 cooperative grant with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study the formation of ice islands on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Data from the Cassini spacecraft, which was launched in 1997 and went into Saturn orbit in 2004, showed the presence of so-called “magic islands” that appeared in Titan’s seas of liquid methane and ethane between flyovers. Researchers at MIT will study the Cassini data, while U of A assistant research professor Vincent Chevrier will work with  graduate students, using the Center’s W.M. Keck Laboratory for Planetary Simulation to attempt to recreate the conditions under which the islands form.
• A three-year, $326,000 grant to study radar anomalies on the surface of Venus. Radar data indicate the presence of a high-altitude “snowline” made up of semi-metallic compounds that could be condensing out of the planet’s atmosphere or reacting with its basaltic surface. Chevrier’s research aims to determine which volatile compounds in the Venusian atmosphere could create the radar signatures and how the planet’s extreme pressure affects their stability.
• A three-year, $291,000 grant to analyze data on relative humidity gathered at the polar region of Mars by the Phoenix lander in 2008, and at the planet’s equatorial region gathered by the Mars Science Laboratory. The goal of the research is to determine how the Martian surface affects the water cycle and the accumulation of surface brines. Edgard Rivera-Valentin, a planetary scientist at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and a former graduate student at the U of A, is the grant’s primary investigator. Chevrier is the co-investigator.

The Titan study could help scientists better understand the hydrological processes, and ultimately habitability, of a place without water, Chevrier said. Though the Venus study has few astrobiological implications, it will add to the small number of research projects that have been done on a planet of approximately the same size and as Earth.

“How did two planets so similar in overall size and composition turn out to be so different?” he said.

The Mars study has implications for the availability of water, and ultimately habitability, on the planet.

About the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences: The Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences is a research institute at the University of Arkansas founded in 2000 and is home to several research facilities, including the unique W.M. Keck Laboratory for Planetary Simulations. Current projects include laboratory and computer simulations of Venus, Mars, and icy moons of the outer solar system such as Saturn's moon Titan. Several groups are involved in astro-biological research; others explore questions of planetary geomorphology. Instrument design for simulation chambers, future missions, and cube satellites comprise engineering aspects of the center's research. A large astrophysical program of the center, called AGES, correlates galaxy structure with central black-hole mass, studies active galactic nuclei, binary star systems, and other astrophysical problems.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.