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Cosmic Dust CatalogSince May 1981, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has used aircraft to collect cosmic dust (CD) particles from Earth's stratosphere. Specially designed dust collectors are prepared for flight and processed after flight in an ultraclean (Class-100) laboratory constructed for this purpose at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. Particles are individually retrieved from the collectors, examined and cataloged, and then made available to the scientific community for research. Cosmic dust thereby joins lunar samples and meteorites as an additional source of extraterrestrial materials for scientific study. This catalog summarizes preliminary observations on 468 particles retrieved from collection surfaces L2021 and L2036. These surfaces were flat plate Large Area Collectors (with a 300 cm2 surface area each) which was coated with silicone oil (dimethyl siloxane) and then flown aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft during a series of flights that were made during January and February of 1994 (L2021) and June 7 through July 5 of 1994 (L2036). Collector L2021 was flown across the entire southern margin of the US (California to Florida), and collector L2036 was flown from California to Wallops Island, VA and on to New England. These collectors were installed in a specially constructed wing pylon which ensured that the necessary level of cleanliness was maintained between periods of active sampling. During successive periods of high altitude (20 km) cruise, the collectors were exposed in the stratosphere by barometric controls and then retracted into sealed storage container-s prior to descent. In this manner, a total of 35.8 hours of stratospheric exposure was accumulated for collector L2021, and 26 hours for collector L2036.
Document ID
19980004630
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Contractor Report (CR)
Authors
Warren, J. (Lockheed Martin Engineering and Science Services Houston, TX United States)
Watts, L. (Lockheed Martin Engineering and Science Services Houston, TX United States)
Thomas-Keprta, K. (Lockheed Martin Engineering and Science Services Houston, TX United States)
Wentworth , S. (Lockheed Martin Engineering and Science Services Houston, TX United States)
Dodson , A. (Lockheed Martin Engineering and Science Services Houston, TX United States)
Zolensky, Michael E. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1997
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.26:112971
JSC-27897
NASA/CR-97-112971
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 344-31-40-01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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