Andrew Collette

Micrometeoroid impact charge yield for common spacecraft materials

The impact ionization charge yield is experimentally measured from four common materials used in space and specifically on the two STEREO spacecraft (germanium-coated black Kapton, beryllium copper, multilayer insulation, and solar cells). Cosmic dust particle impacts on spacecraft have been detected by electric field and plasma and radio wave instruments. The accurate interpretation of these signals is complicated by many factors, including the details of the spacecraft antenna system, the local spacecraft plasma environment, and our understanding of the physics of the impact process. The most basic quantity, the amount of charge liberated upon impact, is generally considered poorly constrained and is suspected to depend on the target material. Here we show that for common materials used on spacecraft this variability is small for impacts around 10 km/s, and the impact charge yield can be approximated by 80 fC for a 1 pg projectile. At higher speeds (∼50 km/s), variation of up to a factor of 5 is observed. The measured yields in the 10–50 km/s range are compared to measurements and predictions from the literature and are found to be lower than predicted by at least a factor of 12 at 10 km/s and at least a factor of 1.7 at 50 km/s. Impact charge is also found to depend on angle of incidence; the data suggest a maximum at 45°.

3 MV hypervelocity dust accelerator at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies

A hypervelocity dust accelerator for studying micrometeorite impacts has been constructed at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS) at the University of Colorado. Based on the Max-Planck-Institüt für Kernphysik (MPI-K) accelerator, this accelerator is capable of emitting single particles of a specific mass and velocity selected by the user. The accelerator consists of a 3 MV Pelletron generator with a dust source, four image charge pickup detectors, and two interchangeable target chambers: a large high-vacuum test bed and an ultra-high vacuum impact study chamber. The large test bed is a 1.2 m diameter, 1.5 m long cylindrical vacuum chamber capable of pressures as low as 10(-7) torr while the ultra-high vacuum chamber is a 0.75 m diameter, 1.1 m long chamber capable of pressures as low as 10(-10) torr. Using iron dust of up to 2 microns in diameter, final velocities have been measured up to 52 km/s. The spread of the dust particles and the effect of electrostatic focusing have been measured using a long exposure CCD and a quartz target. Furthermore, a new technique of particle selection is being developed using real time digital filtering techniques. Signals are digitized and then cross-correlated with a shaped filter, resulting in a suppressed noise floor. Improvements over the MPI-K design, which include a higher operating voltage and digital filtering for detection, increase the available parameter space of dust emitted by the accelerator. The CCLDAS dust facility is a user facility open to the scientific community to assist with instrument calibrations and experiments.

Laboratory investigation of antenna signals from dust impacts on spacecraft

We describe laboratory experiments which reproduce characteristic signals observed on spacecraft, believed to be caused by dust impact. A simulated spacecraft, including an antenna system using a facsimile of the preamplifier electronics from the STEREO/WAVES instrument, was bombarded by 10 km/s submicron-sized dust at the University of Colorado Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres, and Cosmic Dust accelerator facility. Signal variation was investigated as a function of the DC potentials of both the spacecraft and the antennas. We observed (1) signals corresponding to modification of the spacecraft body potential, an important process believed to be responsible for the so-called “triple hit” antenna signals on STEREO, (2) a few-eV energy distribution for the electrons and ions released in the impact leading to (3) signals corresponding to direct recollection of a substantial fraction of the impact charge by the spacecraft antennas, even at modest antenna bias potentials. We also observe (4) an unexpected class of fast antenna signals, which do not appear to be caused by charge recollection by either the spacecraft or the antennas and may be induced by charge separation in the expanding plasma cloud. Similar signals are also commonly observed by the STEREO/WAVES instrument but have not previously been analyzed.

Dust observations at orbital altitudes surrounding Mars.

Dust is common close to the martian surface, but no known process can lift appreciable concentrations of particles to altitudes above ~150 kilometers. We present observations of dust at altitudes ranging from 150 to above 1000 kilometers by the Langmuir Probe and Wave instrument on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft. Based on its distribution, we interpret this dust to be interplanetary in origin. A comparison with laboratory measurements indicates that the dust grain size ranges from 1 to 12 micrometers, assuming a typical grain velocity of ~18 kilometers per second. These direct observations of dust entering the martian atmosphere improve our understanding of the sources, sinks, and transport of interplanetary dust throughout the inner solar system and the associated impacts on Mars’s atmosphere.

Revisiting STEREO interplanetary and interstellar dust flux and mass estimates

Two recent events have motivated a second look at estimates for the flux and mass of approximately micron-radius interplanetary and interstellar dust observed by the twin STEREO spacecraft. First, the signals interpreted as nanometer dust impacts on STEREO-A have nearly ceased, even though STEREO-B continues to observe these signals unabated. Second, a recent laboratory dust accelerator experimental campaign has quantified the charge release associated with hypervelocity dust impacts on materials specific to STEREO. The first event enables an investigation of the extent to which nanometer dust signals influence estimates of micron-radius dust flux. The second event allows an evaluation of how impact charge release values specific to STEREO materials influence dust mass estimates. Revised estimates based on these considerations yield higher fluxes and similar masses for micron-radius interplanetary dust compared to prior studies, as well as lower fluxes and higher masses for interstellar micron-radius dust compared to prior studies. The revised flux and mass estimates reported here differ by less than a factor of 4 from those reported in previous work, demonstrating that STEREO-derived estimates for the flux and mass of micron-radius dust are largely robust to spacecraft material charge yields and the disappearance of nanometer dust signals.

Characteristic temperatures of hypervelocity dust impact plasmas

The effective ion and electron temperatures of dust impact generated plasma clouds are measured experimentally as a function of impact speed in the range of 4–20 km/s. The measurements are performed in an experimental setup that resembles the detection of dust particles by electric field or plasma wave antennas on spacecraft. The spacecraft is modeled as a conductive plate and a cylindrical antenna connected to voltage follower electronics is used to measure the collected charge. The setup is bombarded with dust particles using the University of Colorado IMPACT dust accelerator facility. The effective ion and electron temperatures are determined from the variation of the impact signals with an applied bias voltage. The results show that the temperatures of the electrons remain at around or below 5 eV over the investigated impact speed range. The characteristic ion temperature is about 5 eV at 4 km/s; however, it increases with increasing impact speed to > 10 eV at 20 km/s. Given that the floating potentials of spacecraft and antennas are on the order of a few volts, the findings suggest that any model for the interpretation of dust impact signals should take into account the effects of a finite temperatures.

Variation in relative dust impact charge recollection with antenna to spacecraft potential on STEREO

High-velocity dust that impacts spacecraft releases charged plasma clouds that can create voltage perturbations that are measured by electric field instrumentation. These voltage perturbations are characterized by a relative maximum and minimum, which correspond to body and antenna charge recollection, respectively. The charge recollected by the antenna relative to the total recollected charge is found to correlate with the potential difference between the spacecraft and the antenna. From data analysis that spanned 2007–2013 on the STEREO-A spacecraft, a positive correlation is found. This relationship will support future dust analysis with electric field instrumentation because it defines one spacecraft property that affects relative charge recollection.

Indirect Charged Particle Detection: Concepts and a Classroom Demonstration

We describe the principles of macroscopic charged particle detection in the laboratory and their connections to concepts taught in the physics classroom. Electrostatic dust accelerator systems, capable of launching charged dust grains at hypervelocities (1–100 km/s), are a critical tool for space exploration. Dust grains in space typically have large speeds relative to the probes or satellites that encounter them. Development and testing of instruments that look for dust in space therefore depends critically on the availability of fast, well-characterized dust grains in the laboratory. One challenge for the experimentalist is to precisely measure the speed and mass of laboratory dust particles without disturbing them. Detection systems currently in use exploit the well-known effect of image charge to register the passage of dust grains without changing their speed or mass. We describe the principles of image charge detection and provide a simple classroom demonstration of the technique using soup cans and...