Primordial solar system ices 1. Description of key research objectives the distant kuiper belt objects (KBOS) harbor some of the most primitive material in the solar system. Volatile ices can be found…

Primordial solar system ices 1. Description of key research objectives the distant kuiper belt objects (KBOS) harbor some of the most primitive material in the solar system. Volatile ices can be found on these distant objects which are absent from inner solar system objects such as asteroids due to prior heating. Of particular interest are water ICE and methane ICE, the primary goals of our study. Understanding the water ICE distribution in the solar system is of the utmost importance because water ICE is one of the key ingredients of comets, potential suppliers of water to earth, a required ingredient for life. Methane ICE is scientifically interesting as an indicator of prior heating --- IT is lost quickly from warm bodies. To date, methane and water ices have been seen on the a few of the largest KBOS (2005 FY9 and "the tenth planet" 2003 UB313,2003 EL61 and plutoicharon). Due to lack of other comparison objects the processes creating these surface types. The key goals of our survey are: (1) classify the KBOS to determine which have fundamental ices; (2) once identified, target the ICE-rich KBOS for follow-up to determine their solid state configuration and detect possible trace ices; (3) use these results to draw parallels between the KBOS and well-studied system members. 2. Methods to accomplish research objectives our key method will be a telescopic survey of a large sample (about 100) of KBOS utilizing a custom narrow band filter set designed to detect water ICE and methane ICE. The PI and CO-I have institutional access to four of the largest U.S. Operated telescopes in the world: the twin gemini 8 M telescopes (hawaii and CHILE) and the twin magellan 6.5 meter telescopes (CHILE). Such large telescopes are needed for all phases of our study due to the faintness of the KBOS. We will first use our custom filter photometric survey to identify KBOS with interesting surface ices (years 1-2). After this we will target the bodies of greatest interest using the more telescope intensive spectroscopic methods to determine the state and abundance of ices, and place limits on possible trace ices such as ammonia, methanol, and nitrogen (years 2-3). The use of our custom filter set in the first phase of our study allows US to save precious telescope time by identifying interesting objects before the more detailed spectroscopic studies. No other investigators have ever used special filter sets to catalog KBO ices. 3. Significance to NASA interests and programs. Our proposed work seeks to catalog the distribution of volatile ices in the kuiper belt, the most primitive regions of the solar system. We will be able to find correlations between ices and dynamical factors, which may be an indication of their formation and evolution. We will address the first three science objectives of NASA's mission to the solar system, which focus on the origins of the minor bodies, their diversity and the link to life