CAREER: Building rocky planets: From Mercury and Vesta to GL 581c

职业：建造岩石行星：从水星和灶神星到 GL 581c

• 批准号: 0747154
• 负责人: Linda Elkins-Tanton
• 金额: $ 64.03万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-06-01 至 2014-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0747154&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Building; rocky; planets; Mercury

Motivated by first-order unexplained differences among rocky planets in our solar system and by the fascinating range of exoplanets now being discovered, Dr. Linda Elkins-Tanton (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) will create forward models of planetary formation to allow observations to be linked to formation processes and conditions. The terrestrial planets in our solar system differ in their core fractions, water content, earliest crustal compositions, and in the isotopic characteristics of their mantles, all of which form important constraints on bulk composition and formation process. Many differences remain to be understood, for example, the large size of Mercury's core, the effects of high temperature on Mercury's surface, and the formation processes of smaller bodies like Vesta. The discovery of exoplanets has introduced a wide new range of planet models. Most of the 250 exoplanets now known exhibit characteristics and exist under conditions different from those in our solar system; little context exists in which to understand these planets. The main goals of the research component are to (a) provide a compositional context for understanding the masses, radii, and atmospheric compositions of newly-discovered exoplanets and (b) use modeling results compared to observations of Mercury, Vesta, and the available list of smaller exoplanets to better understand the processes that created their current measured characteristics.In collaboration with the Northeastern University School of Education, Dr. Elkins-Tanton will bring new understanding of planetary evolution to science curricula in secondary school, and will link interested undergraduate science majors, including those participating in the research, with in-service secondary-school teachers. Many middle- and secondary-school Earth and space science teachers are primarily trained in biology, chemistry, or physics, though Earth and space sciences are required K-12 topics in Massachusetts. The tasks that promote these goals are to (a) bring cutting-edge research knowledge to in-service middle- and high-school science teachers in relevant formats within summer professional development courses, (b) introduce science teaching as a career to undergraduate science majors, focusing on those from universities without education departments, by incorporating undergraduates into the workshops, and (c) support teachers as they develop inquiry-based Earth- and space-science units. Use of the material in the subsequent school year will be tracked and supported and a web site will facilitate communication and distribution to a wider audience. In addition, this project will forge critical relationships between disciplines (experimental and theoretical planetary geology and petrology, and observational and theoretical astrophysics). In addition, two to three graduate students and two to three undergraduates will be supported and trained in research.

Linda Elkins-Tanton博士（马萨诸塞州技术学院）由我们太阳系中的岩石行星之间的一阶无法解释的差异以及令人着迷的系外行星范围的动机而动机进行编队过程和条件。我们的太阳系中的陆地行星在其核心部分，水含量，最早的地壳组成以及其地幔的同位素特征上有所不同，所有这些都在散装组成和形成过程上构成了重要的约束。例如，许多差异仍有待理解，例如，水星核心的较大尺寸，高温对汞表面的影响以及诸如Vesta等较小身体的地层过程。系外行星的发现引入了广泛的星球模型。 现在已知的250个系外行星中的大多数在与太阳系中不同的条件下存在。几乎没有理解这些行星的上下文。 研究组成部分的主要目标是（a）提供了一个组成背景，以了解新发现的系外行星的质量，半径和大气组成，并且（b）使用与汞，维斯塔和可用清单的观察结果相比，使用建模结果较小的系外行星，以更好地了解创造其当前测量特征的过程。与东北大学教育学院合作，Elkins-Tanton博士将在中学中将对行星进化的新了解带给科学课程，并将链接感兴趣的大学生科学。大满贯，包括参与研究的人，与辅助中学老师一起。许多中学和中学地球和太空科学教师主要接受过生物学，化学或物理学的培训，尽管地球和太空科学在马萨诸塞州需要K-12主题。促进这些目标的任务是（a）在夏季专业发展课程中以相关格式的中学和高中科学教师带来尖端的研究知识，（b）将科学教学介绍为本科科学的职业专业的专注于没有教育部门的大学，将本科生纳入研讨会，以及（c）在建立基于询问的地球和太空科学单位时支持教师。 随后的学年使用该材料的使用将得到跟踪和支持，网站将有助于向更广泛的受众群体进行沟通和分发。 此外，该项目将建立学科（实验和理论行星地质与岩石学以及观察性和理论天体物理学）之间的批判关系。此外，将在研究中为2至三名研究生和两到三名大学生提供支持和培训。