Figures of Merit for Lunar Simulants

At an earlier SRR the concept for an international standard on Lunar regolith simulants was presented. The international standard, ISO 10788, Lunar Simulants, has recently been published. This paper presents the final content of the standard. Therefore, we are presenting an update of the following: The collection and analysis of lunar samples from 1969 to present has yielded large amounts of data. Published analyses give some idea of the complex nature of the regolith at all scales, rocks, soils and the smaller particulates commonly referred to as dust. Data recently acquired in support of NASA s simulant effort has markedly increased our knowledge and quantitatively demonstrates that complexity. It is anticipated that future analyses will further add to the known complexity. In an effort to communicate among the diverse technical communities performing research on or research using regolith samples and simulants, a set of Figures of Merit (FoM) have been devised. The objective is to allow consistent and concise comparative communication between researchers from multiple organizations and nations engaged in lunar exploration. This paper describes Figures of Merit in a new international standard for Lunar Simulants. The FoM methodology uses scientific understanding of the lunar samples to formulate parameters which are reproducibly quantifiable. Contaminants and impurities in the samples are also addressed

Chandra Observations of the Crab-like Supernova Remnant G21.5-0.9

Chandra observations of the Crab-like supernova remnant G21.5-0.9 reveal a compact central core and spectral variations indicative of synchrotron burn-off of higher energy electrons in the inner nebula. The central core is slightly extended, perhaps indicating the presence of an inner wind-shock nebula surrounding the pulsar. No pulsations are observed from the central region, yielding an upper limit of ~40% for the pulsed fraction. A faint outer shell may be the first evidence of the expanding ejecta and blast wave formed in the initial explosion, indicating a composite nature for G21.5-0.9.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, formatted with emulateapj, submitted to ApJ

EDGES: Radial Star Formation Histories in Nearby Galaxies NGC4102 and UGC07608

New deep ugr imaging was obtained on the Wyoming Infrared Observatory 2.3 meter telescope for NGC4102 and UGC07608, two galaxies in the Extended Disk Galaxy Exploration Science survey. These data are coupled with deep GALEX ultraviolet and Spitzer, WISE and Herschel infrared imaging to study the radial variations in the spectral energy distributions. Results from the CIGALE SED modeling software are presented, including trends in the galaxy star formation histories