Anthony Shu

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.

Characteristics of a new dust coordinate sensor

A new in-beam dust coordinate sensor (DCS) at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS) dust accelerator facility has been constructed and is now in use. The dust sensor operates by measuring the image charges induced on two planes of wire electrodes by passing charged dust particles. Applications for the DCS include the quantitative evaluation and improvements of the focusing and steering elements of the accelerator, and the correlation of particle velocity and mass with impact sites using precision particle location. For focusing and steering improvements, particle positions to 0.25 mm are plotted in real-time. It is possible to determine a typical particles position within the beamline to < 0.1 mm. The design, simulation and results of the DCS are further discussed.

The Dust Accelerator Facility of the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies

The NASA Lunar Institutes Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies has recently completed the construction of a new experimental facility to study hypervelocity dust impacts. The installation includes a 3 MV Pelletron, accelerating small particles in the size range of 0.1 to few microns to velocities in the range of 1 to 100 km/s. Here we report the capabilities of our facility, and the results of our first experiments.