Dust Measurements at High Ecliptic Latitudes

Dynamic Populations of Dust in Interplanetary Space

Information on the dynamics of interplanetary dust is obtained by observations of radio-meteors, zodiacal light, thermal infrared emission, and by measurements with in-situ detectors on board Earth satellites and deep spaceprobes. These methods are sensitive to different meteoroid sizes (mm- to sub-micron sized) and refer to different regions of space. Bigger particles (> 10-9 g) move on bound Keplerian orbits and are dynamically dominated by solar gravity, while the trajectories of particles smaller than 10-10 g are strongly influenced by radiation pressure and electromagnetic interactions. Modelling interplanetary dust is done by dividing the whole meteoritic complex into dynamically distinct populations. Divine's (1993) model identifies five dynamically different populations of interplanetary meteoroids: bigger particles are described by the “core”, and “asteroidal”-populations, intermediate sizes by the “halo”-population, and small particles are included in the “eccentric” and the “inclined”-populations. The intermediate and the small particle populations, in particular, have to be redefined for several reasons: new data are available which require the consideration of hyperbolic orbits and the inclusion of radiation pressure and electromagnetic forces. New small particle populations are interstellar dust and beta-meteoroids.

Deflection of the local interstellar dust flow by solar radiation pressure

Interstellar dust grains intercepted by the dust detectors on the Ulysses and Galileo spacecrafts at heliocentric distances from 2 to 4 astronomical units show a deficit of grains with masses from 1 x 10(-17) to 3 x 10(-16) kilograms relative to grains intercepted outside 4 astronomical units. To divert grains out of the 2- to 4-astronomical unit region, the solar radiation pressure must be 1.4 to 1.8 times the force of solar gravity. These figures are consistent with the optical properties of spherical or elongated grains that consist of astronomical silicates or organic refractory material. Pure graphite grains with diameters of 0.2 to 0.4 micrometer experience a solar radiation pressure force as much as twice the force of solar gravity.

STARDUST: finessing expensive cometary sample returns

The STARDUST Discovery mission will collect samples of cometary coma and interstellar dust and return them to Earth. Five years after launch in February 1999, coma dust in the 1- to 100-micrometers size range will be captured by impact into ultra-low-density silica aerogel during a 6 kms-1 flyby of Comet Wild 2. The returned samples will be investigated at laboratories where the most critical information on these primitive materials is retained. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide project management with Lockheed Martin Astronauts as the spacecraft industrial partner. STARDUST management will aggressively and innovatively achieve cost control through the use of Total Quality Management principles, the chief of which will be organization in a Project Engineering and Integration Team that "flattens" the traditional hierarchical structure by including all project elements from the beginning, in a concurrent engineering framework focusing on evolving Integrated Mission Capability.