Laboratory Measurements of Micrometeoroid Impacts into Solid Ice and Gas Ablation Targets

Abstract:

The dust accelerator facility at the SSERVI Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres, and Cosmic Dust (IMPACT) has recently implemented two major target upgrades: a cryogenic ice target and a high-pressure gas target. Each target can be exposed to micron and submicron particles accelerated to speeds up to 100 km/s.

The ice target consists of a LN₂ cryogenic system connected to both a water-ice deposition system and a movable freezer/holder for a pre-mixed liquid cartridge. Impact products and chemistry are assessed with an integrated time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Such a system enables a program of research into the evolution of ice under micrometeoroid bombardment and the synthesis of complex organic molecules through micrometeoroid impacts. We present the early results from studies of hypervelocity iron particle impacts into frozen mixtures of H₂O, NH₃, and olivine grains which contain nanophase Fe, a possible catalyst for organic chemical reactions, under conditions of low-pressure background CO or CO₂ gas.

The gas target consists of a differentially pumped chamber kept at pressures up to 0.5 Torr, such that high-velocity (~10-60 km/s) micrometeoroids are completely ablated within the 40 cm long measurement region. The chamber is configured with segmented electrodes to perform temporally- and spatially-resolved measurements of charge production during ablation, and localized light-collection optics enable an assessment of the light production. We present the latest results of experiments to determine the ionization efficiency of Fe particles ablating in N_2, air, CO₂, and He gas, and modifications to standard ablation models made possible from these experimental results. Such studies are critical for the interpretation of remote sensing measurements, including radar and lidar, which in turn make possible the assessment of the interplanetary dust particle flux.