P34B-07:
Tests with Ice Particles As Comet Analog Materials and Results of the Dust Impact Monitor on Board Rosetta's Lander Philae.

Wednesday, 17 December 2014: 5:30 PM
Alberto Flandes1, Harald Krüger2, Thomas Albin2, Alexander Loose2 and Walter Arnold3, (1)Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, (2)Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Planets and Comets, Goettingen, Germany, (3)Department of Material Science and Material Technology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
Abstract:
The Dust Impact Monitor (DIM) on board the lander Philae of the Rosetta mission (ESA) is a 7 cm side cube with three of its sides covered with three PZT detectors each. DIM is mounted on the top surface side of Philae and it is aimed to derive the physical properties and the flux of the millimetric dust particle population that moves near the surface of the nucleus of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). We performed a series of calibration experiments at temperatures between -40º C and -20º C to analyse the response, the performance and the detection range of DIM. The experiments mainly comprise impacts with spherical ice particles (radii of nearly 0.5 mm) on the sensor plates at different impact speeds and with different impact directions.
The landing of Philae on the nucleus of the comet 67P is expected to take place in mid November of this year and we also hope to show the first analyses of the early data from DIM.
Back to: Rosetta 2014 III
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