Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2021)
Recipient: THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY LLC
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2019-03-15 to 2022-01-30
Current total value of award: $1656000
Description: NEW TASK ORDER VOYAGER 1 AND 2 LOW ENERGY CHARGED PARTICLE (LECP) INSTRUMENT INVESTIGATIONS UNDER NNN06AA01C AEROSPACE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) CONTRACT - THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PROVIDE ALL LABOR, EQUIPMENT, MATERIALS, AND FACILITIES TO SUPPORT THREE YEARS OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE VOYAGER 1 AND 2 LECP INSTRUMENT INVESTIGATIONS.  THE LECP LOOKS FOR PARTICLES OF HIGHER ENERGY THAN THE PLS, AND IT OVERLAPS WITH THE COSMIC RAY SUBSYSTEM (CRS). IT HAS THE BROADEST ENERGY RANGE OF THE THREE SETS OF PARTICLE SENSORS.  THE CONTRACTOR WILL CONTINUE OPERATIONS WITH REGARD TO THE RECEIPT, PROCESSING, VERIFICATION, CATALOGING, DISPLAY, AND DISTRIBUTION OF DATA FROM THE LECP INSTRUMENTS ON VOYAGER 1 AND VOYAGER. MONITOR THE HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LECP INSTRUMENTS, AND EVALUATE AND CHARACTERIZE THE RESPONSE OF THE LECP INSTRUMENTS TO VARIOUS ENERGETIC PARTICLE AND PLASMA ENVIRONMENTS.  PARTICIPATE IN, AND SUPPORT VOYAGER PROJECT PLANNING EXERCISES AND OTHER COORDINATED ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO EXPLORATION OF THE OUTER HELIOSPHERE AND THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM. DEVELOP ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES AND OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES AS NEEDED THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR SEARCHING FOR AND CHARACTERIZING PLASMA BOUNDARIES, EFFECTS OF TRANSIENT DISTURBANCES, AND UNIQUE REGIONS OF THE OUTER HELIOSPHERE AND IN THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM.  CONTINUE THE PREPARATION OF DATA SETS APPROPRIATE FOR SUBMISSION TO THE NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCES DATA CENTER (NSSDC) AND OTHER SITES. MAINTAIN DIRECT WEB ACCESS TO ONLINE LECP INTENSITY AND ANGULAR DATA THROUGH THE VOYAGER LECP WEBSITE AT APL.  PERFORM SCIENTIFIC EVALUATIONS OF THE VOYAGER 1 AND VOYAGER 2 LECP DATA SETS IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER DATA SETS AND OTHER INVESTIGATORS, WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE OUTER REGIONS AND BOUNDARIES OF THE HELIOSPHERE AND THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM. PERFORM COMPTON-GETTING ANALYSES ON VOYAGER 2 LECP LOW-ENERGY ION ANGULAR DISTRIBUTIONS MEASURED IN THE HELIOSHEATH TO DETERMINE THE PLASMA FLOW VELOCITY IN THE R-T PLANE.  PERFORM ANALYSES OF ION COMPOSITION AND ION AND ELECTRON INTENSITY AND ANGULAR DATA FROM VOYAGERS 1 AND 2 IN THE HELIOSHEATH.  PERFORM ANALYSES OF VOYAGER 1 GALACTIC COSMIC RAY ANGULAR DISTRIBUTIONS AND ION ENERGY SPECTRA USING COUNTING RATE AND PULSE HEIGHT ANALYSIS MEASUREMENTS MADE IN THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM, AND PREPARING FOR ANALYSES OF SIMILAR DATA FROM VOYAGER 2. THIS TASK ORDER SUPPORTS THE LONGEST RUNNING NASA MISSION TO DATE, AND CARRIES ON THE LEGACY OF MAKING NASA DATA ACCESSIBLE AND AVAILABLE TO THE SCIENCE COMMUNITY AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC.