Universities Space Research Association

Nanofibrillated Cellulose–Regolith Composite Aerogels for Lunar Thermal Insulation

Abstract Life support systems in extraterrestrial settings face severe material constraints, demanding innovative in situ resource utilization (ISRU) strategies. One material that merits attention is cellulose, which can be procured in relative abundance from locally generated wa...

A new 222-m diameter lunar crater

Observing the aftermath of recent impact events on the Moon tests models of impact frequency, surface change rates, and cratering physics. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC; 100-meter scale) images the whole Moon each month and has done so sinc...

Neural Surrogate HMC: On Using Neural Likelihoods for Hamiltonian Monte Carlo in Simulation‐Based Inference

Abstract Bayesian inference methods such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) typically require repeated computations of the likelihood function, but in some scenarios, this is infeasible and alternative methods are needed. Simulation‐based inference methods address this problem by...

Polarization Measurement of Gamma-Ray Bursts with Fermi-GBM: The Case of GRB 180720B

Abstract To achieve confident nonzero polarization measurements for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) we need sensitive polarimeters and bright GRBs. Here we report on the polarimetric analysis of the bright GRB 180720B using the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM). We rely on the detectio...