RAYTHEON TECHNICAL SERVICES

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AND INTERPRET THE BEST-EVER MODEL OF THE LUNAR MAGNETIC FIELD ENVIRONMENT UTILIZING MAGNETIC AND ELECTRON REFLECTOMETER MEASUREMENTS COLLECTED FROM THE LUNAR PROSPECTOR MISSION. THIS TIME-VARIABLE MODEL WILL BE USED TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT, AND WILL BE UTILIZED, WITH SUPPORTING GEOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL, MINERALOGICAL, AND PETROLOGIC DATA, TO BETTER CHARACTERIZE THE SURFACE AND SUB-SURFACE SOURCES OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD. WE WILL ADDRESS SUCH SCIENTIFIC ISSUES AS THE EVOLUTION OF THE LUNAR MAGNETIC FIELD AND THE EXISTANCE AND SIZE OF A LUNAR CORE, THE ROLE OF CRATER AND BASIN IMPACTS IN PRODUCING AND EXPOSING ANOMALIES, AND WHERE APPROPRIATE, CRUSTAL STRUCTURE AND THICKNESS, THE LEVEL OF CONTAMINATION OF THE CRUST BY DIKES, AND TRANSPORT OF MAGMA TO THE SURFACE. UNLIKE ALL PREVIOUS MODELS, OUR MODEL WILL PARAMETERIZE AND COESTIMATE THE MAGNETIC FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MAJOR CURRENT SOURCES IN NEAR-LUNAR SPACE. WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED SUCH COMPREHENSIVE MODELS FOR NEAR-EARTH SPACE AS PART OF A JOINT EFFORT BETWEEN U.S. AND EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS. MODELS DEVELOPED FROM THESE EFFORTS STAND OUT FROM THEIR PEERS IN LOW S/N REGIMES, SUCH AS THE EARTH AND MOON. MAGNETIC FIELD MAPPING IS A GEOLOGIC TOOL IN THE TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT, AND RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED A SUITE OF MATHEMATICAL TOOLS THAT CAN BE USED TO FACILITATE INTERPRETATION. WE HAVE ADAPTED SEVERAL OF THESE TOOLS TO THE LUNAR ENVIRONMENT, AND SHOW THAT DIKE-LIKE FEATURES IN THE VICINITY OF THE SOUTH POLE-AITKEN BASIN REGION ARE AT MID-CRUSTAL DEPTHS. OUR TEAM IS COMPOSED OF EXPERTS IN COMPREHENSIVE MODELING OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD AND PETROPHYSICS, AND IN LUNAR GEOLOGY AND SPACE PHYSICS. THIS NEW APPROACH WILL EXTRACT THE MOST INFORMATION POSSIBLE FROM THE AVAILABLE LUNAR PROSPECTOR DATA SETS BY INTEGRATING FIELD DIRECTIONS AND MAGNITUDES FROM THE MAGNETIC FIELD INSTRUMENT WITH ESTIMATES OF THE SURFACE MAGNETIC FIELD MADE USING THE ELECTRON REFLECTOMETER. THE RESULT OF THIS APPROACH WILL BE A MAGNETIZATION MODEL. WE WILL MAKE OUR COMPREHENSIVE MAGNETIC FIELD MODEL AVAILABLE AS AN INTERACTIVE WEB APPLICATION, AND WE WILL BE WORKING WITH COLLABORATORS WHO WILL UTILIZE THE MAGNETIC FIELD MODEL TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE PHYSICS OF THE LUNAR MINI-MAGNETOSPHERES.

THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM THE RESEARCH EFFORT ENTITLED "A NEW EMPIRICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE F-REGION TOPSIDE AND PLASMASPHERE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL REFERENCE IONOSPHER"

REVIEWING AND EVALUATING THE DETAILED GEOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF THE VIIRS INSTRUMENT NAD NPP