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

阿肯色大学费耶特维尔分校和俄克拉荷马州立大学斯蒂尔沃特分校将建立一个阿肯色-俄克拉何马州行星表面仪器与科学中心。该中心将能够开发最先进的设备，用于制造探测太阳系行星的机器人仪器，并建立一个具有不同但协同利益的研究人员的临界质量。在遥感、发光测年和平台工程原型方面具有独特专长的核心教师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的化学与生物化学、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。提出的研究是基于：模拟现代和古代陨石和相关材料的表面，火星水形成沉积物的发光定年，通过严格控制对可能支持特定类型生命（甲烷菌）的条件的探索来寻找火星生命，以及平台实验，包括为最终可能部署在火星和其他物体上的充气结构进行原位气体生成。为中心设想的所有项目，包括外联，都将有工业伙伴准备在机会出现时利用中心的工作。

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.