Silica Aerogel has been adopted as the new standard capture medium for cosmic dust collection. The mesostructure off silica-aerogel resembles strings of pearls, ranging in size from 10 to 100 A.U. (Angstrom Unit). This fine mesostructure transmits nearly 90 % of incident light in the visible, while providing sufficiently gentle dissipation of the kinetic energy of hypervelocity cosmic dust particles to permit their intact capture. In 1987, silica aerogel was introduced as a capture medium to take advantage of its low density, fine mesostructure and, most importantly, its transparency, allowing optical location of captured micron sized particles. Without this feature, locating such captured particles in an opaque medium, for example polymer foams, is nearly impossible. The capture of hypervelocity particles has been extensively simulated in laboratory. At the time of this symposium, more than 2.4 m2 of 20 mg/l silica aerogel will have been flown on Space Shuttle. Demonstration of capturing hypervelocity particles ushers in a new, simple avenue to science in capturing intact cosmic dust from space. Since our introduction of aerogel for intact capture of cosmic dust, many useful features unique to aerogel have been identified.
Silica aerogel captures cosmic dust intact
Anwendung von Silica-Aerogelen zum Einfangen von kosmischen Staub
Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids ; 186 ; 415-427
1995
13 Seiten, 14 Bilder, 20 Quellen
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
Aerogel , Staub , Raumfähre , Astrophysik , Raumfahrzeug
Cosmic Dust Intact Capture Experiment
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999
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