The objectives of the proposed work are to 1) explore the likely formation pathways for amorphous, nanocrystalline, and/or poorly crystalline sulfate, chloride, oxychlorine, and multicomponent…

This is a federal grant award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (RF SUNY), on behalf of Stony Brook University, for a research project focused on exploring the formation, characterization, and stability of amorphous salts on Mars. The $729,546.12 grant will fund a three-year research effort to better understand the possible phases that could comprise hydrated amorphous materials detected on the Martian surface, with a focus on amorphous salts. The project seeks to address fundamental questions about the existence and properties of these materials, which could be important constituents of Martian soils. There is no set-aside designation associated with this award. As a major research institution, Stony Brook University conducts a wide range of federally-funded scientific research across defense and civilian agencies.

The objectives of the proposed work are to 1) explore the likely formation pathways for amorphous, nanocrystalline, and/or poorly crystalline sulfate, chloride, oxychlorine, and multicomponent salts, 2) characterize the hydration state, XRD, and spectral properties of amorphous salts expected for mars, and 3) describe the thermodynamic properties of these salts and the solutions and/or crystalline materials from which they form, over a wide range of conditions. Recent discoveries of hydrated amorphous materials from the mars science laboratory mission, as well as detections of hydrated amorphous phases from orbit and from other landing sites, have highlighted a need to better understand the possible phases that could comprise these materials. Fundamental questions remain about the amorphous constituents in martian soils, and in particular, the existence and properties of amorphous salts. There are a number of mars-relevant processes that could lead to amorphous or nanophase salts, and previous studies have suggested that they could be important constituents of martian surface materials. Yet little is known about the formation mechanisms, stability, or spectral properties of these phases. There are several outstanding questions related to amorphous salts, linked under three major objectives. The first set of questions relates to formation pathways for amorphous salts, as a function of composition, temperature and humidity conditions. Though some salts have been investigated already, under various pathways, others remain unexplored. Important to understanding amorphous salt formation pathways is determining the deliquescence relative humidity (DRH) of crystalline starting materials at mars-relevant temperatures; hence the inclusion of DRH measurements in this objective. The second set of questions relates to the visible, spectral, x-RAY, and hydration state characteristics of these salts, which are important for their detectability using past, current and future instrumentation at mars. The third set of questions relates to the stability of amorphous salts. The RH-temperature conditions under which amorphous salts form and are stable, as well as the rates of transformations are not well constrained, particularly for temperatures