TOF Mass Measurements of Very Exotic Nuclides: an Input for Astrophysical Calculations

Atomic masses play a crucial role in many nuclear astrophysics calculations. Very exotic nuclei can be accessed by time-of- flight techniques at radioactive beam facilities. The NSCL facility provides a well-suited infrastructure for TOF mass measurements of very exotic nuclei. At this facility, we have recently implemented a~TOF-B$\rho$ technique and performed mass measurements of neutron-rich nuclides in the Fe region, important for calculations of the r-process and processes occurring in the crust of accreting neutron stars. Description of the TOF technique, results and future plans related to nuclear astrophysics will be presented.