Establishment of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Center of Instrumentation and Science for Planetary Surfaces

阿肯色州-俄克拉何马州行星表面仪器和科学中心将在阿肯色州大学费耶特维尔和俄克拉何马州立大学斯蒂尔沃特校区建立。该中心将促进开发最先进的设施，为太阳系行星的机器人探索创造仪器，并建立一支具有不同但协同兴趣的研究人员队伍。核心教员在遥感、发光测年和平台工程原型方面拥有独特的专业知识，将构成该中心的核心。此外，该中心将提供设施和基础设施，将阿肯色大学和俄克拉荷马州立大学化学和生物化学、生物科学、机械工程、化学工程和物理系的研究人员聚集在一起。拟议的研究基于：对现代和古代陨石及相关材料表面的模拟，火星水成沉积物的发光测年，通过严格控制对可能支持特定类型生命(产甲烷菌)的条件的探索来寻找火星生命，以及涉及最终可能部署在火星和其他天体上的充气结构的原位气体产生的平台实验。为中心设想的所有项目，包括外联，都将有工业合作伙伴随时准备利用中心的工作。

An Arkansas-Oklahoma Center of Instrumentation and Science for Planetary Surfaces will be established at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and Oklahoma State University, Stillwater campuses. The Center will enable the development of state-of-the-arts facilities for the creation of instrumentation for robotics exploration of planets in the solar system and establish a critical mass of researchers with diverse but synergistic interests. Core faculty, with unique expertise in remote geo-sensing, luminescence dating, and platform engineering prototypes, will form the nucleus of the Center. Moreover, the center will provide facilities and infrastructure that will bring together researchers in the Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Physics departments at the University of Arkansas and Oklahoma State University. The proposed research is based on: simulation of modern and ancient surfaces of meteorites and related materials, luminescence dating of Martian water-formed sediments, search for Martian life by strictly controlled exploration of conditions which could support a particular type of life (methanogens), and platform experiments which involve in-situ gas generation for inflatable structures which could eventually be deployed on Mars and other bodies. All of the projects envisaged for the Center, including outreach, will have industrial partners ready to utilize the Center's work as opportunities arise.