RAPID: Transport and Revitalization of Nu Instruments Noblesse Mass Spectrometer

该项目将运输和翻新一台退役的稀有气体多收集器质谱仪，如果不及时获得，将被回收。稀有气体（He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe）提供了独特的示踪剂，对了解地质和天文过程非常重要。这位研究人员最感兴趣的是利用惰性气体来确定地球样本和其他行星样本（如阿波罗宇航员带回的陨石或岩石）上陨石坑的年龄和历史。这些样本的年龄告诉我们地球上生命最初出现的环境，以及陨石撞击在其随后的进化中所起的作用。此外，我们要研究的许多陨石都是由nsf资助的ANSMET项目收集的。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稀有气体实验室的需求日益增长，因此这是一次及时的仪器转移。为了进一步满足这一需求，该提案旨在创建一个设施，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 3M1F质谱计系统运输和恢复，该系统包括二极管激光器和定制提取线，用于科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的稀有气体测量。翻新后的仪器为科罗拉多大学博尔德分校和落基山脉地区带来了新的能力，包括对重惰性气体、宇宙生成惰性气体核素的同位素分析，以及对冲击样品进行40Ar/39Ar精细热年代学分析。最初的应用是稳定的宇宙成因核素Ar、Ne、Kr和Xe，非传统的锆石年代学方法，如(U-Th)/Ne和(U-Pu)/Xe，以及陆地撞击构造样品的40Ar/39Ar热年代学。目标是建立一个拥有这些领域专业知识的设施，作为社区资源，解决对稀有天然气和深部地质年代学设施日益增长的需求。研究人员还计划开设一门关于地球化学和地质年代学仪器的课程，这可能是传统实地课程的替代模式，有助于使地球科学学位更容易获得。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.