RAPID: Transport and Revitalization of Nu Instruments Noblesse Mass Spectrometer

这一项目将运输和修复一台退役的惰性气体多收集器质谱仪，如果不及时购置，将予以抢救。稀有气体（He，Ne，Ar，Kr，Ar）提供了独特的示踪剂，对于理解地质和天文过程非常重要。研究人员最感兴趣的是使用惰性气体来确定来自地球和其他行星样本（如阿波罗宇航员返回的陨石或岩石）的撞击坑的年龄和历史。这些样本的年龄告诉我们生命最初出现在我们星球上的环境，以及陨石撞击在其随后的进化中所扮演的角色。此外，我们必须研究的许多陨石都是由NSF资助的ANSMET计划收集的。惰性气体分析是将陨石配对并确定其起源的关键测量方法。最后，随着传统实验室/研究人员的老化，地球科学和行星学科对新的惰性气体实验室的需求越来越大，因此这是一个及时的仪器转让。为了进一步满足这一需求，该项目旨在建立一个设施，作为培训下一代地球科学和行星科学家的中心。该项目的主要目标是将退役的Noblesse HR 3 M1 F质谱仪系统（包括二极管激光器和定制提取线）运送到博尔德的科罗拉多大学进行惰性气体测量。翻新的仪器采购为CU博尔德和落基山脉地区带来了新的能力，包括重惰性气体的同位素分析，宇宙成因惰性气体核素和冲击样品的40 Ar/39 Ar热年代学。初步的应用是发展稳定的宇宙成因核素Ar、Ne、Kr和Ar，非传统的锆石年代学方法如（U-Th）/Ne和（U-Pu）/Ar，以及对来自陆地撞击构造的样品进行40 Ar/39 Ar热年代学。目标是建立一个具有这些领域专门知识的设施，作为社区资源提供，并将满足对惰性气体和深时地质年代学设施日益增长的需求。研究人员还计划开发一门关于地球化学和地质年代学仪器的课程，这可能是传统领域课程的替代品，以帮助使地球科学学位更容易获得。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This project will transport and refurbish a decommissioned noble gas multi-collector mass spectrometer that would be salvaged if not acquired promptly. The noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) provide unique tracers that are important for understanding geologic and astronomic processes. The researcher is most interested in using noble gases to determine the ages and histories of impact cratering on samples from Earth and other planetary samples like meteorites or rocks returned by Apollo astronauts. The ages of these samples tell us about the environments under which life first emerged on our planet and the role that meteorite impacts have played in its subsequent evolution. Additionally, many of the meteorites we have to study are collected by the NSF-funded ANSMET program. Noble gas analyses are a key measurement for pairing meteorites together and determining their origins. Lastly, there is a growing need across geoscience and planetary disciplines for new noble gas laboratories as legacy labs/researchers are aging out, hence this is a timely instrument transfer. To further address this need, this proposal aims to create a facility that will be a center for training the next generation of geoscience and planetary scientists.The main goals of this project are to transport and revitalize a decommissioned Noblesse HR 3M1F mass spectrometer system, which includes a diode laser and custom extraction line to the University of Colorado, Boulder for noble gas measurements. The refurbished instrument acquisition brings new capabilities to the CU Boulder and the Rocky Mountain region, including isotopic analyses of the heavy noble gases, cosmogenic noble gas nuclides, and refined 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of shocked samples. The initial applications to be developed are stable cosmogenic nuclides of Ar, Ne, Kr, and Xe, non-traditional zircon geochronology methods such as (U-Th)/Ne and (U-Pu)/Xe, and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of samples from terrestrial impact structures. The goal is to create a facility with expertise in these areas that is available as a community resource and will address the increasing need for noble gas and deep-time geochronology facilities. The researcher also plan to develop a course on geochemical and geochronology instrumentation that could be a model for alternatives to traditional field classes to help make geoscience degrees more accessible.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.