01 / Contract Profile

80NSSC25K7114 Federal Contract Award

Agency code 8000

WE PROPOSE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ROLE OF SUBSURFACE VOLATILE FLUIDS IN SHAPING THE GEOLOGY OF PLUTO. OUR HYPOTHESIS IS THAT VOLATILE FLUIDS COULD BE INVOLVED IN THE FORMATION OF A NUMBER OF ENIGMATIC LANDFORMS ON PLUTO, INCLUDING PITS AND CLUSTERS OF PITS TO THE NORTH AND EAST OF SPUTNIK PLANITIA THAT ARE CLEARLY NOT IMPACT-RELATED, AS WELL AS A VARIETY OF CHANNELS THAT COULD HAVE FORMED BELOW GLACIAL ICE. WE WILL CONSIDER FLUIDS COMPOSED OF PLUTO'S THREE MOST VOLATILE SURFACE CONSTITUENTS, N2, CO, AND CH4. THIS TERNARY SYSTEM EXHIBITS CONSIDERABLY MORE COMPLEXITY THAN PURE SUBSTANCES DO, INCLUDING SITUATIONS WHERE THE FLUID AND SOLID DENSITIES INVERT AND WHERE PRESSURE ALONG THE SOLID-LIQUID-VAPOR EQUILIBRIUM SURFACE INCREASES AS TEMPERATURE DECREASES, AS DISCOVERED IN OUR PRELIMINARY WORK ON ITS CONSTITUTING BINARY SYSTEMS. OUR SCIENTIFIC APPROACH INVOLVES FOUR TASKS THAT DRAW ON THE TEAM'S EXPERTISE IN SEVERAL DISTINCT MODELING TECHNIQUES AS WELL AS CRYOGENIC LABORATORY STUDIES..