Mass measurements for the r-process at the N=126 Factory

Nearly half of all elements heavier than iron are produced in the dramatic merger of two neutron stars. The synthesis of these heavy nuclei is known to be the fruit of a succession of a rapid capture of neutrons and beta-decays describing a path along an uncharted region of the nuclear chart. Abundance calculations of nuclei produced by this process rely on nuclear models, which in turn requires experimental data of exotic nuclei closer to the "valley of stability". Among various experimental inputs, atomic masses appear as being the quantity to which the abundance pattern is the most sensitive. Over the past decades many advances have been made to improve the precision and sensitivity of high precision mass measurements techniques. At the same time new radioactive ion beam facilities are currently under construction to provide access to unexplored regions of the chart of the nuclides. One of these is the N=126 Factory, located at Argonne National Laboratory. It will use multi-nucleon transfers (MNT) reactions to reach regions that are difficult of access from fission and projectile fragmentation reactions including the N=126 shell closure south of 208 Pb and the rare-earth region north of the rare-earth peak. The N=126 Factory as well as plans future mass measurements using the Canadian Penning Trap will be presented.