Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Brownlee, D. E..
The rate of discovery of new Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and the success of D-S 1 and NEAR-Shoemaker, suggest that sample return from NEAs is now technically feasible. Here we present a summary of a recent workshop on the topic. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
In-situ acid etching of ultramicrotomed thin sections has lead to the identification of nano-diamonds in interplanetary dust particles. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
Ultramicrotome sections of IDPs have been successfully etched with HF to isolate and reveal the microdistribution of carbonaceous material. The sections are evaluated for nanodiamonds, 3.4 micron feature, GEMS and the origin of low albedo in small interplanetary particles.
Ultraviolet (UV) spectra were collected from nanogram-mass UV standards, meteorite acid residue, and interplanetary dust particles using a parallel high-intensity beam (1 mm x 2 mm) on the Ultraviolet Ring at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Infrared spectral properties of silicate grains in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) were compared with those of astronomical silicates. The approximately 10-micrometer silicon-oxygen stretch bands of IDPs containing enstatite (MgSiO3), forsterite (Mg2SiO4), and glass with embedded metal and sulfides (GEMS) exhibit fine structure and bandwidths similar to those of solar system comets and some pre-main sequence Herbig Ae/Be stars. Some GEMS exhibit a broad, featureless silicon-oxygen stretch band similar to those observed in interstellar molecular clouds and young stellar objects. These GEMS provide a spectral match to astronomical "amorphous" silicates, one of the fundamental building blocks from which the solar system is presumed to have formed.
The STARDUST Discovery mission will collect samples of cometary and interstellar dust and return them to Earth. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides project management with Lockheed Martin Astronautics as the spacecraft industrial partner. STARDUST management is aggressively pursuing cost control through the use of Total Quality Management principles, specifically operating in a Project Engineering and Integration Team that
Two dimensional elemental ion maps have been recorded for hundreds of microparticle impact sites and contamination features on LDEF surfaces. Since the majority of the analyzed surfaces were metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) impact detectors from the Interplanetary Dust Experiment, a series of 'standard' and 'blank' analyses of these surfaces are included. Hypervelocity impacts of forsterite olivine microparticles on activated flight sensors served as standards while stylus and pulsed laser simulated 'impacts' served as analytical blanks. Results showed that despite serious contamination issues, impactor residues can be identified in greater than 1/3 of the impact sites. While aluminum oxide particles could not be detected on aluminum surfaces, they were detected on germanium surfaces from row 12. Remnants of manmade debris impactors consisting of paint chips and bits of metal were identified on surfaces from LDEF Rows 3 (west or trailing side), 6 (south), 9 (ram or leading side), 12 (north) and the space end. Higher than expected ratios of manmade microparticle impacts to total microparticle impacts were found on the space end and the trailing side. These results were consistent with time-tagged and time-segregated microparticle impact data from the IDE and other LDEF experiments. A myriad of contamination interferences were identified and their effects on impactor debris identification mitigated during the course of this study. These interferences include pre-, post and inflight deposited surface contaminants as well as indigenous heterogeneous material contaminants. Non-flight contaminations traced to human origins, including spittle and skin oils, contributed significant levels of alkali-rich carbonaceous interferences. A ubiquitous layer of in-flight deposited silicaceous contamination varied in thickness with location on LDEF, even on a micro scale. In-flight deposited (low velocity) contaminants include urine droplets and bits of metal film from eroded thermal blankets.
We present data for the cosmogenic nuclides Be-10 and A-26 in a suite of 24 extraterrestrial spherules, collected from Antarctic moraines and deep sea sediments. All of the 10 large spherules collected in glacial till at Lewis Cliff are extraterrestrial. As in earlier work, the great majority of particles show prominent solar cosmic-ray (SCR) production of Al-26, indicating bombardment ages on the order of 106 years or even longer. These long ages are in direct contradiction to model ages for small particles in the inner Solar System and may require reconsideration of models of small particle lifetimes. A small fraction of the particles so far measured (6/42) possess cosmogenic radionuclide patterns consistent with predictions for meteoroid spall droplets. We believe that most of the spherules were bombarded in space primarily as bodies not much larger than their present size. The content of in situ produced Be-10 and Al-26 in quartz pebbles in the same moraine suggests that these spherules may have on average a significant terrestrial age.
Pyroclastic glass particles of diverse compositions are sparsely distributed in the lunar soil. Numerous suspected pyroclastic deposits have been pinpointed on the nearside. However, a dearth of pure samples large enough for spectral study, coupled with the kilometer spatial resolution of earth-based telescope spectrometry, makes it difficult to remotely analyze these deposits or tie most glasses to specific sources. Two developments should soon improve this situation. First, the technique of microscope photometry combined with microprobe analysis allows the correlation of the reflectance spectra and chemical compositions of individual glass particles. Second, the Clementine spacecraft will provide multispectral images of pyroclastic deposits at much higher spatial resolution than is currently achievable. These developments, combined with traditional laboratory and telescope studies, should allow compositions of many pyroclastic deposits and sources of many soil particles to be determined.
Light gas gun studies have shown that 6 km/s solid mineral and glass test particles can be successively captured in 0.05 g cm(exp -3) aerogel without severe heating or fragmentation. In spite of this work, there has been uncertainty in the performance of aerogel for hypervelocity capture of real meteoroids. Natural impacts differ from simulations in that the particles are likely to be structurally weak and they typically impact at higher velocity that can be simulated in the laboratory. We are fortunate now to have had two successful capture experiments using aerogel exposed in space. These experiments provide fundamental data for the assessment of the value of silica aerogel for capture of hypervelocity meteoroids from spacecraft. The first experiment used 0.02 g cm(exp -3) aerogel flown on the lid of a Shuttle Get Away Special canister. During its 9 day exposure, the 0.165 m(exp 2) of aerogel in this Sample Return Experiment (SRE) captured two long 'carrot-shaped' tracks and one highly fractured bowl shaped 'crater'. The second collection was with 0.04 m(exp 2) of 0.05 g cm(exp -3) aerogel exposed on ESA's Eureca freeflying spacecraft that was exposed for 11 months before recovery by the Shuttle. The Eureca aerogel exposure consisted of four 10x10 cm module trays that were part of the TiCCE meteoroid collector built by the University of Kent at Canterbury. To date we have found ten 'carrot-shaped' tracks and two 'craters' on this experiment. The longest tracks in both exposures are over 2 mm long. Two of the TiCCE modules had a 0.1 micron Al film suspended a millimeter above the aerogel. On these modules several of the projectiles fragmented during passage through the film producing fields of carrot shaped tracks from the resulting miniature 'meteor' shower. Most of the tracks in these showers have observable particles at their ends. We have extracted one of the carrot track meteoroids and mounted it in epoxy for sectioning. So far the examination of these 14 impacts suggests that low density aerogel is a magic and highly effective media for intact capture of hypervelocity particles in space.
We measured the depths, average diameters, and circularity indices of over 600 micrometeoroid and space debris craters on various metal surfaces exposed to space on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite, as a test of some of the formalisms used to convert the diameters of craters on space-exposed surfaces into penetration depths for the purpose of calculating impactor sizes or masses. The topics covered include the following: targe materials orientation; crater measurements and sample populations; effects of oblique impacts; effects of projectile velocity; effects of crater size; effects of target hardness; effects of target density; and effects of projectile properties.
We have examined craters in Al and Au LDEF surfaces to determine the nature of meteoroid residue in the rare cases where projectile material is abundantly preserved in the crater floor. Typical craters contain only small amounts of residue and we find that less than 10 percent of the craters in Al have retained abundant residue consistent with survival of a significant fraction (greater than 20 percent) of the projectile mass. The residue-rich craters can usually be distinguished optically because their interiors are darker than ones with little or no apparent projectile debris. The character of the meteoroid debris in these craters ranges from thin glass liners, to thick vesicular glass containing unmelted mineral fragments, to debris dominated by unmelted mineral fragments. In the best cases of meteoroid survival, unmelted mineral fragments preserve both information on projectile mineralogy as well as other properties such as nuclear tracks caused by solar flare irradiation. The wide range of the observed abundance and alteration state of projectile residue is most probably due to differences in impact velocity. The crater liners are being studied to determine the composition of meteoroids reaching the Earth. The compositional types most commonly seen in the craters are: (1) chondritic (Mg, Si, S, Fe in approximately solar proportions), (2) Mg silicate. amd (3) iron sulfide. These are also the most common compositional types of extraterrestrial particle types collected in the stratosphere. The correlation between these compositions indicates that vapor fractionation was not a major process influencing residue composition in these craters. Although the biases involved with finding analyzable meteoroid debris in metal craters differ from those for extraterrestrial particles collected in and below the atmosphere, there is a common bias favoring particles with low entry velocity. For craters this is very strong and probably all of the metal craters with abundant residue were caused by asteroidal dust impacting at minimum velocities.
The Interplanetary Dust Experiment (IDE) had over 450 electrically active ultra-high purity metal-oxide-silicon impact detectors located on the six primary sides of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Hypervelocity microparticles (approximately 0.2 to approximately 100 micron diameter) that struck the active sensors with enough energy to break down the 0.4 or 1.0 micron thick SIO2 insulator layer separating the silicon base (the negative electrode), and the 1000 A thick surface layer of aluminum (the positive electrode) caused electrical discharges that were recorded for the first year of orbit. The high purity Al-SiO2-Si substrates allowed detection of trace (ppm) amounts of hypervelocity impactor residues. After sputtering through a layer of surface contamination, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) was used to create two-dimensional elemental ion intensity maps of microparticle impact sites on the IDE sensors. The element intensities in the central craters of the impacts were corrected for relative ion yields and instrumental conditions and then normalized to silicon. The results were used to classify the particles' origins as 'manmade,' 'natural,' or 'indeterminate.' The last classification resulted from the presence of too little impactor residue, analytical interference from high background contamination, the lack of information on silicon and aluminum residues, or a combination of these circumstances. Several analytical 'blank' discharges were induced on flight sensors by pressing down on the sensor surface with a pure silicon shard. Analyses of these blank discharges showed that the discharge energy blasts away the layer of surface contamination. Only Si and Al were detected inside the discharge zones, including the central craters of these features. Thus far a total of 79 randomly selected microparticle impact sites from the six primary sides of the LDEF have been analyzed: 36 from tray C-9 (Leading (ram), or East, side), 18 from tray C-3 (Trailing (wake), or West, side), 12 from tray B-12 (North side), 4 from tray D-6 (South side), 3 from tray H-11 (Space end), and 6 from tray G-10 (Earth end). Residue from manmade debris was identified in craters on all trays. (Aluminum oxide particle residues were not detectable on the Al/Si substrates.) These results were consistent with the IDE impact record which showed highly variable long term microparticle impact flux rates on the West, Space and Earth sides of the LDEF which could not be ascribed to astronomical variability of micrometeorite density. The IDE record also showed episodic bursts of microparticle impacts on the East, North, and South sides of the satellite, denoting passage through orbital debris clouds or rings.
Carbon is the only major element in interplanetary dust whose abundance, distribution and chemical state are not well understood. Information about carbon could clarify the relationship between the various classes of IDP's, conventional meteorites, and sources (e.g., comets vs. asteroids). To date, the most reliable estimates of C abundance in Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDP's) have been obtained by analyzing particles on thick-flat Be substrates using thin-window energy-dispersive spectroscopy in the SEM. These estimates of C abundance are valid only if C is homogeneously distributed, because detected C x-rays originate from the outer 0.1 micrometers of the particle. An alternative and potentially more accurate method of measuring C abundances is to analyze multiple thin sections (each less than 0.1 less than 0.1 micrometers thick) of IDP's. These efforts however, have been stymied because of a lack of a suitable non-carbonaceous embedding medium and the availability of C-free conductive substrates. We have embedded and thin-sectioned IDP's in glassy sulfur, and transferred the thin sections to Be support films approximately 25 nm thick. The sections were then analyzed in a 200 KeV analytical TEM. S sublimes rapidly under vacuum in the TEM, leaving non-embedded sections supported on Be. Apart from quantitative C (and O) analyses, S sectioning dramatically expands the range of analytical measurements that can be performed on a single IDP.
He release temperature curves were determined for a specially processed set of 5 microns to 15 microns stratospheric IDP's whose masses, densities, and compositions were accurately measured. The He release temperature in combination with atmospheric entry calculations yields a most probable entry velocity for each particle and association with either an asteroidal (low velocity) or cometary (high velocity) origin. It was found that over half of the 5-15 microns IDP's have entry velocities consistent with asteroidal origin and that at least 20 percent have cometary origins. A few of the asteroidal particles are porous aggregates and it appears that there may be close material similarities among some primitive asteroids and comets. In the processing of individual 5 microns IDP's and determination of entry velocities, a few dozen microtome slices that can be used for a variety of detailed TEM, IR, and ion probe studies were preserved. These procedures provide laboratory samples that can be generically associated with asteroids and comets and are in a sense a limited sample return mission from these primitive bodies.
We have measured the densities of about 100 5-15 micron stratospheric IDPs. Great care was taken to minimize selection bias in the sample population. Masses were determined using an absolute x-ray analysis technique with a transmission electron microscope, and volumes were found using scanning electron microscope imagery. Unmelted chondritic particles have densities between 0.5 and 6.0 g/cc. Roughly half of the particles have densities below 2 g/cc, indicating appreciable porosity, but porosities greater than about 70 percent are rare. IDPs with densities above 3.5 g/cc usually contain large sulfide grains. We find no evidence of bimodality in the unmelted particle density distribution. Chondritic spherules (melted particles) have densities near 3.5 g/cc, consistent with previous results for deep sea spherules.
The capability for capturing micrometeoroid analogs intact through laboratory simulations in passive underdense media offers a valuable tool for cosmic dust research. However, no amount of laboratory simulations can replace actual space experiments due to the technical inability to launch high fidelity analogs of micrometeoroids in ground laboratories and then reliably simulating high hypervelocities (greater than 7 km/s). Fluffy composite micrometeoroid analogs tend to break up and have not survived laboratory launches at beyond 4 km/s, however, a new technique of launching cluster analogs was developed for the two-stage light-gas gun at NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range. Plasma drag or electrostatic accelerators may be able to achieve higher speeds than two-stage light-gas guns but only with very limited projectile compositions and may result in severe projectile deformation. Consequently, a space demonstration of intact capture was sought since 1983. Initial results from our STS-47 flight, which carried the first Shuttle Sample Return Experiment (SRE) with silica aerogel capture media, are reported.
Three sets of particle mass spectra are used here to investigate the relationship between CHON (dust composed predominantly of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) and silicate materials in Comet Halley. It is found that there are essentially no pure CHON particles in the 0.1-1 micron size range sampled; instead, essentially all Halley particles sampled by the mass spectrometers are a mixture of both CHON and silicate components. The data show that the CHON and silicate components are interdispersed at submicron scales, and there is evidence that sublimation of volatile organic material occurs, bringing many particles to a common proportion of CHON and silicate material.