This is a $660,000 scientific research grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of New Mexico (UNM) Office of Sponsored Projects Division. The grant is part of NASA's Emerging Worlds program and supports research to understand the chemical, structural, and isotopic characteristics of organic materials in chondritic meteorites. The goal is to study how various parent body processes, such as aqueous alteration and thermal processing, have affected the evolution of organic compounds that were accreted into asteroidal parent bodies. The research will utilize advanced analytical techniques like scanning electron microscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry to characterize the organic materials at the microscale. This work is relevant to understanding the early formation and history of planets, satellites, and minor bodies in the solar system. The grant does not have a set-aside designation.
Generated 9/7/24, 10:40 AM