# # Program information file # PROGRAM_ID 2021B063 PROGRAM_TITLE Are the exo-KBOs in the HD 32297 Debris Disk Water Ice or CO frost rich? PROGRAM_INV1 Christine Chen PROGRAM_INV2 Sean Brittain PROGRAM_INV3 Casey Lisse PROGRAM_INV4 Aki Roberge PROGRAM_INV5 Isa Rebollido PROGRAM_SCICAT extra-solar planets PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_BEG Observations of Solar System KBOs and comets indicate that minor bodies in the Outer Solar System are water ice rich. However, ALMA observations of the exo-Kuiper Belt around HD 32297 have detected and spatially resolved CO emission. Are the exo-KBOs water ice rich similar to Solar System KBOs and comets or CO frost rich because the HD 32297 debris disk is very young [30 Myr] and stellar radiation has not yet sublimated all of the CO. We propose to measure the excitation temperature of the cold CO imaged by ALMA using absorption in the R- and P-branch transitions within the fundamental band of CO to determine whether the excitation is more similar to the sublimation temperature of water ice or CO frost and therefore whether water ice or CO is the most abundant species. The proposed IRTF/iSHELL observations would also provide context for planned JWST NIRSpec observations of HD 32297 using the NIRSpec Fixed Slit at wavelengths 1.0-5.3 micron [R~2,700] to search for absorption due to volatile-rich gas. PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_END