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.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Silica aerogel captures cosmic dust intact


    Additional title:

    Anwendung von Silica-Aerogelen zum Einfangen von kosmischen Staub


    Contributors:
    Tsou, P. (author)

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1995


    Size :

    13 Seiten, 14 Bilder, 20 Quellen




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Cosmic Dust Intact Capture Experiment

    Tsou, P. / University of New Mexico; School of Engineering; Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999


    Cosmic Dust Intact Capture Experiment

    Tsou, Peter | American Institute of Physics | 1999



    Purity and Cleanness of Aerogel as a Cosmic Dust Capture Medium

    Tsou, P. / Fleming, R. H. / Lindley, P. M. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994


    Purity and Cleanness of Aerogel as a Cosmic Dust Capture Medium

    Tsou, P. / Fleming, R. H. / Lindley, P. M. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994