E. Gruen

Cosmic dust analyzer for Cassini

The cosmic dust analyzer (CDA) is designed to characterize the dust environment in interplanetary space, in the Jovian and in the Saturnian systems. The instrument consists of two major components, the dust analyzer (DA) and the high rate detector (HRD). The DA has a large aperture to provide a large cross section for detection in low flux environments. The DA has the capability of determining dust particle mass, velocity, flight direction, charge, and chemical composition. The chemical composition is determined by the chemical analyzer system based on a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The DA is capable of making full measurements up to one impact/second. The HRD contains two smaller PVDF detectors and electronics designed to characterize dust particle masses at impact rates up to 104 impacts/second. These high impact rates are expected during Saturn ring plane crossings.