Aerogel for IDP Capture: Lessons Learned

Details Aerogel for IDP Capture: Lessons Learned Aerogel for IDP Capture: Lessons Learned

Mar 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996lpi....27..963n&link_type=abstract

Lunar and Planetary Science, volume 27, page 963

Other

Aerogel Bonding, Aerogel Integration, Aerogel Manufacturing, Interplanetary Dust Particles: Capture, Shaping Aerogel

Scientific paper

The use of aerogel for capturing interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and space debris has been studied, developed, and seen limited use, but the available literature lacks detail of the potential difficulties that could be encountered in the manufacturing and use of aerogel in such instruments. Thus, recent lessons learned are described here and are applicable in the use of ultra-pure aerogel, and may also be applied to nominal aerogel. These lessons learned are the results of manufacturing aerogel and assembling IDP capture cells for collaborative flight experiments with the University of Paris' Institute of Astrophysical Sciences (IAS) as part of their COMRADE experiment on Mir. Ultra-pure aerogel was found to be reactive with several common materials which are used in its manufacture and instrument integration processes. For the manufacture of aerogel, choice of the mold material and its finish is important to the successful extraction and use of aerogel. In early extraction attempts, extraction molds made of aluminum were tried but the aerogel precursors reacted with and destroyed the aluminum molds during the extraction process. Thus, the initial plans to extract aerogel in aluminum molds sized to the flight capture cells were not successful. In the instrument integration process, as the aerogel was pressed into its capture cell by a glass platen the aerogel bonded with the glass and even with platinum, workarounds were necessary. These and other problems are described herein.

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