Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer for comet Wild 2

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

7

Interplanetary Physics: Interplanetary Dust, Interplanetary Physics: Instruments And Techniques, Interplanetary Physics: General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

The Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) instrument analyzes the composition of individual grains in the cometary coma. As each particle impacts a silver plate, the high-impact energy due to the relative velocity of the spacecraft as it flies through the coma causes the elements and molecular compounds in the particle to become ionized. Using a fast time-of-flight mass spectrometer, a complete set of ions are detected for each impact, from a mass range of 1 (atomic hydrogen) up to a few thousand atomic mass units, encompassing all elements in the periodic table and many molecules, such as organic compounds. This experimental technique has already been applied with excellent success at Halley's comet, and the CIDA derivative instrument is flying on the Stardust mission, which will encounter comet Wild 2 in January of 2004. The data returned will give clues to the elemental and chemical composition of the dust component of this comet.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer for comet Wild 2 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer for comet Wild 2, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer for comet Wild 2 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1033391

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.