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We present frb-voe, a publicly available software package that enables radio observatories to broadcast fast radio burst (FRB) alerts to subscribers through low-latency virtual observatory events (VOEvents). We describe a use-case of frb-voe by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) Collaboration, which has broadcast thousands of FRB alerts to subscribers worldwide. Using this service, observers have daily opportunities to conduct rapid multi-wavelength follow-up observations of new FRB sources. Alerts are distributed as machine-readable reports and as emails containing FRB metadata, and are available to the public within approximately 13 seconds of detection. A sortable database and a downloadable JSON file containing FRB metadata from all broadcast alerts can be found on the CHIME/FRB public webpage. The frb-voe service also provides users with the ability to retrieve FRB names from the Transient Name Server (TNS) through the frb-voe client user interface (CLI). The frb-voe service can act as a foundation on which any observatory that detects FRBs can build its own VOEvent broadcasting service to contribute to the coordinated multi-wavelength follow-up of astrophysical transients., Comment: Submitted to The Astronomical Journal

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are unique probes of extragalactic ionized baryonic structure as each signal, through its burst properties, holds information about the ionized matter it encounters along its sightline. FRB 20200723B is a burst with a scattering timescale of $\tau_\mathrm{400\,MHz} >$1 second at 400 MHz and a dispersion measure of DM $\sim$ 244 pc cm$^{-3}$. Observed across the entire CHIME/FRB frequency band, it is the single-component burst with the largest scattering timescale yet observed by CHIME/FRB. The combination of its high scattering timescale and relatively low dispersion measure present an uncommon opportunity to use FRB 20200723B to explore the properties of the cosmic web it traversed. With an $\sim$arcminute-scale localization region, we find the most likely host galaxy is NGC 4602 (with PATH probability $P(O|x)=0.985$), which resides $\sim$30 Mpc away within a sheet filamentary structure on the outskirts of the Virgo Cluster. We place an upper limit on the average free electron density of this filamentary structure of $\langle n_e \rangle < 4.6^{+9.6}_{-2.0} \times 10^{-5}$ cm$^{-3}$, broadly consistent with expectations from cosmological simulations. We investigate whether the source of scattering lies within the same galaxy as the FRB, or at a farther distance from an intervening structure along the line of sight. Comparing with Milky Way pulsar observations, we suggest the scattering may originate from within the host galaxy of FRB 20200723B., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, submitted. Comments welcome!

The identification of persistent radio sources (PRSs) coincident with two repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) supports FRB theories requiring a compact central engine. However, deep non-detections in other cases highlight the diversity of repeating FRBs and their local environments. Here, we perform a systematic search for radio sources towards 37 CHIME/FRB repeaters using their arcminute localizations and a combination of archival surveys and targeted observations. Through multi-wavelength analysis of individual radio sources, we identify two (20181030A-S1 and 20190417A-S1) for which we disfavor an origin of either star formation or an active galactic nucleus in their host galaxies and thus consider them candidate PRSs. We do not find any associated PRSs for the majority of the repeating FRBs in our sample. For 8 FRB fields with Very Large Array imaging, we provide deep limits on the presence of PRSs that are 2--4 orders of magnitude fainter than the PRS associated with FRB\,20121102A. Using Very Large Array Sky Survey imaging of all 37 fields, we constrain the rate of luminous ($\gtrsim$10$^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$) PRSs associated with repeating FRBs to be low. Within the context of FRB-PRS models, we find that 20181030A-S1 and 20190417A-S1 can be reasonably explained within the context of magnetar, hypernebulae, gamma-ray burst afterglow, or supernova ejecta models -- although we note that both sources follow the radio luminosity versus rotation measure relationship predicted in the nebula model framework. Future observations will be required to both further characterize and confirm the association of these PRS candidates with the FRBs., Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures

We present an extensive contemporaneous X-ray and radio campaign performed on the repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 20220912A for eight weeks immediately following the source's detection by CHIME/FRB. This includes X-ray data from XMM-Newton, NICER, and Swift, and radio detections of FRB 20220912A from CHIME/Pulsar and Effelsberg. We detect no significant X-ray emission at the time of 30 radio bursts with upper limits on $0.5-10.0$ keV X-ray fluence of $(1.5-14.5)\times 10^{-10}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ (99.7% credible interval, unabsorbed) on a timescale of 100 ms. Translated into a fluence ratio $\eta_{\text{ x/r}} = F_{\text{X-ray}}/F_{\text{radio}}$, this corresponds to ${\eta}_{\text{ x/r}} < 7\times10^{6}$. For persistent emission from the location of FRB 20220912A, we derive a 99.7% $0.5-10.0$ keV isotropic flux limit of $8.8\times 10^{-15}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ (unabsorbed) or an isotropic luminosity limit of 1.4$\times10^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$ at a distance of 362.4 Mpc. We derive a hierarchical extension to the standard Bayesian treatment of low-count and background-contaminated X-ray data, which allows the robust combination of multiple observations. This methodology allows us to place the best (lowest) 99.7% credible interval upper limit on an FRB ${\eta}_{\text{ x/r}}$ to date, ${\eta}_{\text{ x/r}} < 2\times10^6$, assuming that all thirty detected radio bursts are associated with X-ray bursts with the same fluence ratio. If we instead adopt an X-ray spectrum similar to the X-ray burst observed contemporaneously with FRB-like emission from Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154 detected on 2020 April 28, we derive a 99.7% credible interval upper limit on ${\eta}_{\text{ x/r}}$ of $8\times10^5$, which is only 3 times the observed value of ${\eta}_{\text{ x/r}}$ for SGR 1935+2154., Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures. ApJ in press (accepted after resubmission July 19th, 2024)

Neutron stars and white dwarfs are both dense remnants of post-main-sequence stars. Pulsars, magnetars and strongly magnetised white dwarfs have all been seen to been observed to exhibit coherent, pulsed radio emission in relation to their rotational period. Recently, a new type of radio long period transient (LPT) has been discovered. The bright radio emission of LPTs resembles that of radio pulsars and magnetars. However, they pulse on timescales (minutes) much longer than previously seen. While minute timescales are common rotation periods for white dwarfs, LPTs are much brighter than the known pulsating white dwarfs, and dipolar radiation from isolated (as opposed to binary) magnetic white dwarfs has yet to be observed. Here, we report the discovery of a new $\sim$421~s LPT, CHIME J0630+25, using the CHIME/FRB and CHIME/Pulsar instruments. We used standard pulsar timing techniques and obtained a phase-coherent timing solution which yielded limits on the inferred magnetic field and characteristic age. CHIME J0630+25 is remarkably nearby ($170 \pm 80$~pc), making it the closest LPT discovered to date., Comment: Submitted

We use the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Fast Radio Burst (FRB) Project to search for FRBs that are temporally and spatially coincident with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) occurring between 2018 July 7 and 2023 August 3. We do not find any temporal (within 1 week) and spatial (within overlapping 3 sigma localization regions) coincidences between any CHIME/FRB candidates and all GRBs with 1 sigma localization uncertainties <1 deg. As such, we use CHIME/FRB to constrain the possible FRB-like radio emission for 27 short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) that were within 17 deg. of CHIME/FRB's meridian at a point either 6 hrs prior up to 12 hrs after the high-energy emission. Two SGRBs, GRB 210909A and GRB 230208A, were above the horizon at CHIME at the time of their high-energy emission and we place some of the first constraints on simultaneous FRB-like radio emission from SGRBs. While neither of these two SGRBs have known redshifts, we construct a redshift range for each GRB based on their high-energy fluence and a derived SGRB energy distribution. For GRB 210909A, this redshift range corresponds to z = [0.009, 1.64] with a mean of z=0.13. Thus, for GRB 210909A, we constrain the radio luminosity at the time of the high-energy emission to L <2 x 10e46 erg s-1, L < 5 x 10e44 erg s-1, and L < 3 x 10e42 erg s-1 assuming redshifts of z=0.85, z=0.16, and z=0.013, respectively. We compare these constraints with the predicted simultaneous radio luminosities from different compact object merger models., Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, 7 tables

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) last for milliseconds and arrive at Earth from cosmological distances. While their origin(s) and emission mechanism(s) are presently unknown, their signals bear similarities with the much less luminous radio emission generated by pulsars within our Galaxy and several lines of evidence point toward neutron star origins. For pulsars, the linear polarisation position angle (PA) often exhibits evolution over the pulse phase that is interpreted within a geometric framework known as the rotating vector model (RVM). Here, we report on a fast radio burst, FRB 20221022A, detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) and localized to a nearby host galaxy ($\sim 65\; \rm{Mpc}$), MCG+14-02-011. This one-off FRB displays a $\sim 130$ degree rotation of its PA over its $\sim 2.5\; \rm{ms}$ burst duration, closely resembling the "S"-shaped PA evolution commonly seen from pulsars and some radio magnetars. The PA evolution disfavours emission models involving shocks far from the source and instead suggests magnetospheric origins for this source which places the emission region close to the FRB central engine, echoing similar conclusions drawn from tempo-polarimetric studies of some repeating sources. This FRB's PA evolution is remarkably well-described by the RVM and, although we cannot determine the inclination and magnetic obliquity due to the unknown period/duty cycle of the source, we can dismiss extremely short-period pulsars (e.g., recycled millisecond pulsars) as potential progenitors. RVM-fitting appears to favour a source occupying a unique position in the period/duty cycle phase space that implies tight opening angles for the beamed emission, significantly reducing burst energy requirements of the source.

We present a 400-800 MHz polarimetric analysis of 128 non-repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) from the first CHIME/FRB baseband catalog, increasing the total number of FRB sources with polarization properties by a factor of ~3. 89 FRBs have >6${\sigma}$ linearly polarized detections, 29 FRBs fall below this significance threshold and are deemed linearly unpolarized, and for 10 FRBs the polarization data are contaminated by instrumental polarization. For the 89 polarized FRBs, we find Faraday rotation measure (RM) amplitudes, after subtracting approximate Milky Way contributions, in the range 0.5-1160 rad m$^{-2}$ with a median of 53.8 rad m$^{-2}$. Most non-repeating FRBs in our sample have RMs consistent with Milky Way-like host galaxies and their linear polarization fractions range from <10% to 100% with a median of 63%. We see marginal evidence that non-repeating FRBs have more constraining lower limits than repeating FRBs for the host electron-density-weighted line-of-sight magnetic field strength. We classify the non-repeating FRB polarization position angle (PA) profiles into four archetypes: (i) single component with constant PA (57% of the sample), (ii) single component with variable PA (10%), (iii) multiple components with a single constant PA (22%), and (iv) multiple components with different or variable PAs (11%). We see no evidence for population-wide frequency-dependent depolarization and, therefore, the spread in the distribution of fractional linear polarization is likely intrinsic to the FRB emission mechanism. Finally, we present a novel method to derive redshift lower limits for polarized FRBs without host galaxy identification and test this method on 20 FRBs with independently measured redshifts., Comment: 44 pages, 18 figures, accepted to ApJ

In 2021, a catalog of 536 fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope was released by the CHIME/FRB Collaboration. This large collection of bursts, observed with a single instrument and uniform selection effects, has advanced our understanding of the FRB population. Here we update the results for 140 of these FRBs for which channelized raw voltage ('baseband') data are available. With the voltages measured by the telescope's antennas, it is possible to maximize the telescope sensitivity in any direction within the primary beam, an operation called 'beamforming'. This allows us to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the bursts and to localize them to sub-arcminute precision. The improved localization is also used to correct the beam response of the instrument and to measure fluxes and fluences with a ~10% uncertainty. Additionally, the time resolution is increased by three orders of magnitude relative to that in the first CHIME/FRB catalog, and, applying coherent dedispersion, burst morphologies can be studied in detail. Polarization information is also available for the full sample of 140 FRBs, providing an unprecedented dataset to study the polarization properties of the population. We release the baseband data beamformed to the most probable position of each FRB. These data are analyzed in detail in a series of accompanying papers.

We present the host galaxies of four apparently non-repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs), FRBs 20181223C, 20190418A, 20191220A, and 20190425A, reported in the first Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME/FRB) catalog. Our selection of these FRBs is based on a planned hypothesis testing framework where we search all CHIME/FRB Catalog-1 events that have low extragalactic dispersion measure (< 100 pc cm$^{-3}$), with high Galactic latitude (|b| > 10$\deg$) and saved baseband data. We associate the selected FRBs to galaxies with moderate to high star-formation rates located at redshifts between 0.027 and 0.071. We also search for possible multi-messenger counterparts, including persistent compact radio and gravitational wave (GW) sources, and find none. Utilizing the four FRB hosts from this study along with the hosts of 14 published local Universe FRBs (z < 0.1) with robust host association, we conduct an FRB host demographics analysis. We find all 18 local Universe FRB hosts in our sample to be spirals (or late-type galaxies), including the host of FRB 20220509G, which was previously reported to be elliptical. Using this observation, we scrutinize proposed FRB source formation channels and argue that core-collapse supernovae are likely the dominant channel to form FRB progenitors. Moreover, we infer no significant difference in the host properties of repeating and apparently non-repeating FRBs in our local Universe FRB host sample. Finally, we find the burst rates of these four apparently non-repeating FRBs to be consistent with those of the sample of localized repeating FRBs observed by CHIME/FRB. Therefore, we encourage further monitoring of these FRBs with more sensitive radio telescopes., Comment: 46 pages, 13 figures, 10 tables, submitted

We report ten fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected in the far side-lobe region (i.e., $\geq 5^\circ$ off-meridian) of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) from 2018 August 28 to 2021 August 31. We localize the bursts by fitting their spectra with a model of the CHIME/FRB synthesized beam response. We find that the far side-lobe events have on average ~500 times greater fluxes than events detected in CHIME's main lobe. We show that the side-lobe sample is therefore statistically ~20 times closer than the main-lobe sample. We find promising host galaxy candidates (P$_{\rm cc}$ < 1%) for two of the FRBs, 20190112B and 20210310B, at distances of 38 and 16 Mpc, respectively. CHIME/FRB did not observe repetition of similar brightness from the uniform sample of 10 side-lobe FRBs in a total exposure time of 35580 hours. Under the assumption of Poisson-distributed bursts, we infer that the mean repetition interval above the detection threshold of the far side-lobe events is longer than 11880 hours, which is at least 2380 times larger than the interval from known CHIME/FRB detected repeating sources, with some caveats, notably that very narrow-band events could have been missed. Our results from these far side-lobe events suggest one of two scenarios: either (1) all FRBs repeat and the repetition intervals span a wide range, with high-rate repeaters being a rare subpopulation, or (2) non-repeating FRBs are a distinct population different from known repeaters., Comment: 27 pages, 20 figures. This version is the result of the merger of arxiv:2307.05262 and the previous version of this paper. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We study the 10 fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected in the far side-lobe region of the CHIME telescope from 2018 August 28 to 2021 August 31. We find that the far side-lobe events have on average $\sim$500 times greater fluxes than events detected in CHIME's main lobe. We show that the side-lobe sample is therefore statistically $\sim$20 times closer than the main-lobe sample. The median dispersion measure (DM) excess, after removing the Galactic disk component using the NE2001 for the free electron density distribution of the Milky Way, of the 10 far side-lobe and 471 non-repeating main-lobe FRBs in the first CHIME/FRB catalog is 183.0 and 433.9 pc\;cm$^{-3}$, respectively. By comparing the DM excesses of the two populations under reasonable assumptions, we statistically constrain that the local degenerate contributions (from the Milky Way halo and the host galaxy) and the intergalactic contribution to the excess DM of the 471 non-repeating main-lobe FRBs for the NE2001 model are 131.2$-$158.3 and 302.7$-$275.6 pc cm$^{-3}$, respectively, which corresponds to a median redshift for the main-lobe FRB sample of $\sim$0.3. These constraints are useful for population studies of FRBs, and in particular for constraining the location of the missing baryons., Comment: This paper has been merged with arxiv:2307.05261. Refer to that article for the latest version

FRB 20180916B is a repeating Fast Radio Burst (FRB) with a 16.3-day periodicity in its activity. In this study, we present morphological properties of 60 FRB 20180916B bursts detected by CHIME/FRB between 2018 August and 2021 December. We recorded raw voltage data for 45 of these bursts, enabling microseconds time resolution in some cases. We studied variation of spectro-temporal properties with time and activity phase. We find that the variation in Dispersion Measure (DM) is $\lesssim$1 pc cm$^{-3}$ and that there is burst-to-burst variation in scattering time estimates ranging from $\sim$0.16 to over 2 ms, with no discernible trend with activity phase for either property. Furthermore, we find no DM and scattering variability corresponding to the recent change in rotation measure from the source, which has implications for the immediate environment of the source. We find that FRB 20180916B has thus far shown no epochs of heightened activity as have been seen in other active repeaters by CHIME/FRB, with its burst count consistent with originating from a Poissonian process. We also observe no change in the value of the activity period over the duration of our observations and set a 1$\sigma$ upper limit of $1.5\times10^{-4}$ day day$^{-1}$ on the absolute period derivative. Finally, we discuss constraints on progenitor models yielded by our results, noting that our upper limits on changes in scattering and dispersion measure as a function of phase do not support models invoking a massive binary companion star as the origin of the 16.3-day periodicity., Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures

We present a search for host galaxy associations for the third set of repeating fast radio burst (FRB) sources discovered by the CHIME/FRB Collaboration. Using the $\sim$ 1 arcmin CHIME/FRB baseband localizations and probabilistic methods, we identify potential host galaxies of two FRBs, 20200223B and 20190110C at redshifts of 0.06024(2) and 0.12244(6), respectively. We also discuss the properties of a third marginal candidate host galaxy association for FRB 20191106C with a host redshift of 0.10775(1). The three putative host galaxies are all relatively massive, fall on the standard mass-metallicity relationship for nearby galaxies, and show evidence of ongoing star formation. They also all show signatures of being in a transitional regime, falling in the ``green valley'' which is between the bulk of star-forming and quiescent galaxies. The plausible host galaxies identified by our analysis are consistent with the overall population of repeating and non-repeating FRB hosts while increasing the fraction of massive and bright galaxies. Coupled with these previous host associations, we identify a possible excess of FRB repeaters whose host galaxies have $M_{\mathrm{u}}-M_{\mathrm{r}}$ colors redder than the bulk of star-forming galaxies. Additional precise localizations are required to confirm this trend., Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, submitted to AAS journals

We present the discovery of 25 new repeating fast radio burst (FRB) sources found among CHIME/FRB events detected between 2019 September 30 and 2021 May 1. The sources were found using a new clustering algorithm that looks for multiple events co-located on the sky having similar dispersion measures (DMs). The new repeaters have DMs ranging from $\sim$220 pc cm$^{-3}$ to $\sim$1700 pc cm$^{-3}$, and include sources having exhibited as few as two bursts to as many as twelve. We report a statistically significant difference in both the DM and extragalactic DM (eDM) distributions between repeating and apparently nonrepeating sources, with repeaters having lower mean DM and eDM, and we discuss the implications. We find no clear bimodality between the repetition rates of repeaters and upper limits on repetition from apparently nonrepeating sources after correcting for sensitivity and exposure effects, although some active repeating sources stand out as anomalous. We measure the repeater fraction over time and find that it tends to an equilibrium of $2.6_{-2.6}^{+2.9}$% over our total time-on-sky thus far. We also report on 14 more sources which are promising repeating FRB candidates and which merit follow-up observations for confirmation., Comment: ApJ in press. Comments are still welcome and follow-up observations are encouraged!

The CHIME/FRB project has detected hundreds of fast radio bursts (FRBs), providing an unparalleled population to probe statistically the foreground media that they illuminate. One such foreground medium is the ionized halo of the Milky Way (MW). We estimate the total Galactic electron column density from FRB dispersion measures (DMs) as a function of Galactic latitude using four different estimators, including ones that assume spherical symmetry of the ionized MW halo and ones that imply more latitudinal-variation in density. Our observation-based constraints of the total Galactic DM contribution for $|b|\geq 30^\circ$, depending on the Galactic latitude and selected model, span 87.8 - 141 pc cm^-3. This constraint implies upper limits on the MW halo DM contribution that range over 52-111 pc cm^-3. We discuss the viability of various gas density profiles for the MW halo that have been used to estimate the halo's contribution to DMs of extragalactic sources. Several models overestimate the DM contribution, especially when assuming higher halo gas masses (~ 3.5 x 10^12 solar masses). Some halo models predict a higher MW halo DM contribution than can be supported by our observations unless the effect of feedback is increased within them, highlighting the impact of feedback processes in galaxy formation., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. ApJ in press (accepted February 8th, 2023)

We report on improved sky localizations of thirteen repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) discovered by CHIME/FRB via the use of interferometric techniques on channelized voltages from the telescope. These so-called 'baseband localizations' improve the localization uncertainty area presented in past studies by more than three orders of magnitude. The improved localization regions are provided for the full sample of FRBs to enable follow-up studies. The localization uncertainties, together with limits on the source distances from their dispersion measures (DMs), allow us to identify likely host galaxies for two of the FRB sources. FRB 20180814A lives in a massive passive red spiral at z~0.068 with very little indication of star formation, while FRB 20190303A resides in a merging pair of spiral galaxies at z~0.064 undergoing significant star formation. These galaxies show very different characteristics, further confirming the presence of FRB progenitors in a variety of environments even among the repeating sub-class.

The Canadian Hydrogen Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a radio telescope located in British Columbia, Canada. The large FOV allows CHIME/FRB to be an exceptional pulsar and Rotating Radio Transient (RRAT) finding machine, despite saving only the metadata of incoming Galactic events. We have developed a pipeline to search for pulsar/RRAT candidates using DBSCAN, a clustering algorithm. Follow-up observations are then scheduled with the more sensitive CHIME/Pulsar instrument capable of near-daily high time resolution spectra observations. We have developed the CHIME/Pulsar Single Pulse Pipeline to automate the processing of CHIME/Pulsar search-mode data. We report the discovery of 21 new Galactic sources, with 14 RRATs, 6 isolated long-period pulsars and 1 binary system. Owing to CHIME/Pulsar's observations we have obtained timing solutions for 8 of the 14 RRATs along with all the regular pulsars and the binary system. Notably we report that the binary system is in a long orbit of 412 days with a minimum companion mass of 0.1303 solar masses and no evidence of an optical companion within 10" of the pulsar position. This highlights that working synergistically with CHIME/FRB's large survey volume CHIME/Pulsar can obtain arc second localisations for low burst rate RRATs though pulsar timing. We find that the properties of our newly discovered RRATs are consistent with those of the presently known population. They tend to have lower burst rates than those found in previous surveys, which is likely due to survey bias rather than the underlying population.

Aeolus is a mission to provide the first set of global, seasonal, and diurnal data to characterize winds and study the climate of Mars. Aeolus measures surface and atmospheric temperatures, aerosol abundances, and Doppler shifts in atmospheric spectral lines. The payload includes a system of four of a new type of miniaturized Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer (SHS) paired to two orthogonal viewing telescopes that can measure CO2 (daytime absorption) and O2 (day and night emission) lines in the Martian atmosphere. The Thermal Limb Sounder (TLS) instrument measures atmospheric temperature profiles and aerosol (H2O ice clouds, dust) profiles, and the Surface Radiometric Sensor Package (SuRSeP) measures the total reflected solar radiance, and surface temperatures down to 140K. These combined spectral and thermal measurements will provide a new understanding of the global energy balance, dust transport processes, and climate cycles in the Martian atmosphere. The mission concept for Aeolus consists of a single sub-100 kg secondary spacecraft in a highly inclined orbit, allowing it to pass over all local times. Aeolus attains global coverage of the surface for a mission duration of one Martian year, to capture climate patterns during each Martian season. This paper gives an overview of the Aeolus payload, spacecraft, and the methodology used to mature the Aeolus mission concept.

In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) focuses on using local resources for mission consumables. The approach can reduce mission cost and risk. Lunar polar volatiles, e.g. water ice, have been detected via remote sensing measurements and represent a potential resource for both humans and propellant. The exact nature of the horizontal and depth distribution of the ice remains to be documented in situ. NASA's Resource Prospector mission (RP) is intended to investigate the polar volatiles using a rover, drill, and the RESOLVE science package. RP component level hardware is undergoing testing in relevant lunar conditions (cryovacuum). In March 2015 a series of drilling tests were undertaken using the Honeybee Robotics RP Drill, Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS), and sample capture mechanisms (SCM) inside a 'dirty' thermal vacuum chamber at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The goal of these tests was to investigate the ability of NIRVSS to monitor volatiles during drilling activities and assess delivery of soil sample transfer to the SCMs in order to elucidate the concept of operations associated with this regolith sampling method.

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) was a lunar orbiter launched in September 2013 that investigated the composition and temporal variation of the tenuous lunar exosphere and dust environment. A major goal of the mission was to characterize the dust exosphere prior to future lunar exploration activities, which may alter the lunar environment. The Ultraviolet/Visible Spectrometer (UVS) onboard LADEE addresses this goal, utilizing two sets of optics: a limbviewing telescope, and a solar-viewing telescope. We report on spectroscopic (approximately 280 - 820 nm) observations viewing down the lunar wake or along the 'lunar tail' from lunar orbit. Prior groundbased studies have observed the emission from neutral sodium atoms extended along the lunar tail, so often this region is referred to as the lunar sodium tail. UVS measurements were made on the dark side of the moon, with the UVS limb-viewing telescope pointed outward in the direction of the Moon's wake (almost anti-sun), during different lunar phases. These UVS observation activities sample a long column and allow the characterization of scattered light from dust and emission lines from atoms in the lunar tail. Observations in this UVS configuration show the largest excess of scattered blue light in our data set, indicative of the presence of small dust grains in the tail. Once lofted, nanoparticles may become charged and picked up by the solar wind, similar to the phenomena witnessed above Enceladus's northern hemisphere or by the STEREO/WAVES instrument while close to Earth's orbit. The UVS data show that small dust grains as well as atoms become entrained in the lunar tail.