Investigating the ability of Stardust capture media to preserve collected particles intact

N. J. Foster; P. J. Wozniakiewicz; A. T. Kearsley; M. J. Burchell; M. J. Cole; P. A. Bland

doi:10.1051/eas/1041031

Issue		EAS Publications Series Volume 41, 2010 Physics and Astrophysics of Planetary Systems


Page(s)		395 - 398
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/eas/1041031
Published online		08 January 2010

Physics and Astrophysics of Planetary Systems
T. Montmerle, D. Ehrenreich and A.-M. Lagrange (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 41 (2010) 395-398

Investigating the ability of Stardust capture media to preserve collected particles intact

N. J. Foster¹, P. J. Wozniakiewicz²^,3, A. T. Kearsley², M. J. Burchell¹, M. J. Cole¹ and P. A. Bland³

¹ Centre for Astrophysics & Planetary Science, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NH, UK
² Impacts & Astromaterials Research Centre, Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
³ Impacts & Astromaterials Research Centre, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Corresponding authors: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

We briefly summarise our ongoing efforts to evaluate the success of cometary particle capture by NASA's Stardust mission. We demonstrate the use of a variety of analysis techniques to investigate the state of preservation in laboratory analogues of the Stardust encounter at 6.1 km s^-1, using well characterised projectiles and flight grade foils and aerogel.