Development of a dust mantle on the surface of an insolated ice-dust mixture - Results from the KOSI-9 experiment

Details Development of a dust mantle on the surface of an insolated ice-dust mixture - Results from the KOSI-9 experiment Development of a dust mantle on the surface of an insolated ice-dust mixture - Results from the KOSI-9 experiment

Aug 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993jgr....9815091g&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 98, no. E8, p. 15,091-15,104.

Physics

46

Comet Nuclei, Cosmic Dust, Gas Evolution, Ice, Surface Temperature, Cross Sections, Mass Ratios, Particle Size Distribution

Scientific paper

A laboratory experiment (KOSI-9) has been performed to study the evolution of a dust mantle on top of a sublimating ice-dust mixture in vacuum. A sample consisting of water ice with a 10 percent (by weight) admixture of olivine grains has been insolated in three periods at variable intensities from 200 to 1900 W/sq m. Both increasing surface temperature of the sample and decreasing gas and particle emissions indicated the formation of a dust mantle during the first period. During the second insolation period after the gas flux had reached a critical value of a few 10 exp 21 water molecules/sq m/s, avalanches of mantle material occurred on the inclined sample surface, broke up the mantle locally, and opened up a fresh icy surface. Enhanced ice and dust particle emission resumed for some time from these spots. A large number of the emitted dust particles were of a fluffy aggregate structure, i.e., they had large cross section to mass ratios compared to compact particles. During the third period the critical gas flux was not reached and no enhanced dust and ice emission was observed. A dry dust mantle of a few millimeters thickness developed during the course of the experiment. Consequences of these findings for cometary scenarios are discussed.

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