Statistics
Scientific paper
Dec 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999baas...31.1592t&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #31, late abstracts, #59.46; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 31,
Statistics
Scientific paper
The MIDAS instrument (Micro Imaging Dust Analysis System) has been selected as payload on the international Rosetta mission to comet Wirtanen. The instrument is based on the technology of atomic force microscopy. This technique is well introduced in laboratory studies, but as a space application it has to match many crucial criteria to withstand the harsh conditions of space flight. The advanced design of the flight model consists of four major functional units, (1) the microscope (2) the system for collection and transport of the dust grains, (3) a microvibration damping unit and (4) the control electronics and computing facilities. The MIDAS instrument will be mounted on the orbiting spacecraft. Over the mission period it will collect small dust particles that are released from the cometary nucleus. The dust collection system consists of 64 especially coated facets, which can be individually exposed to the cometary environment. A shutter that closes the funnel from the instrument to the outside of the spacecraft controls the exposure time. Eventually the loaded collector surface presents the dust grains to the actual atomic force microscope. The high-resolution capabilities of MIDAS allow to observe a grain size range from 4 nanometer up to 5 micrometer, thus it covers the smallest grain size, which has been observed ever in a space environment. The results of the analysis of the data cover the following fields: (1) dust counting statistics (2) true three-dimensional images of dust particles and (3) dust characterisation. The unique approach of Rosetta mission to monitor a comet from the low active phase far away from the sun to the high active phase at perihelion gives an exceptional opportunity for all instruments to observe different stages in a life of a comet that might be expressed in drastic changes of material properties.
Arends H.
Midas Team
Romstedt Jens
Torkar Klaus
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