Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Cosmic dust collection in aerogel

Burchell, Mark J., Graham, Giles A., Kearsley, Anton T. (2006) Cosmic dust collection in aerogel. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 34 . pp. 385-418. ISSN 0084-6597. (doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.34.031405.124939) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:5027)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.34.031405....

Abstract

Aerogel is an ultra-low-density material that can be used to capture small particles incident upon it at speeds in excess of 1 km s(-1). This permits capture of cosmic dust in space where the high speeds usually result in destructive impact events. The performance of aerogel in laboratory impact tests is described. Completely intact capture is rare; most studies show that between 10% to 100% of the incident particle's mass is captured. However, in all cases unaltered domains were found in the particles captured in the laboratory at speeds up to 6 or 7 km s(-1). Several analytic techniques can be applied in situ to particles captured in aerogel, yielding data on the preimpact composition of the particle. Extraction techniques for removing small particles from aerogel are described, and after extraction, handling and analysis in the laboratory can proceed as for any small-sized particle. Coupled with the survival of intact regions in the captured particles, this allows detailed identification of the composition of the dust. Examples are given of current space missions using aerogel dust collectors: Data on these will soon be supplemented by cometary dust particles captured in aerogel on the NASA Stardust spacecraft.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1146/annurev.earth.34.031405.124939
Subjects: Q Science
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: Mark Burchell
Date Deposited: 02 Sep 2008 07:49 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:43 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/5027 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.