NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
SIMS chemical analysis of extended impacts on the leading and trailing edges of LDEF experiment AO187-2The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) Experiment AO187-2 consisted of 237 capture cells, 120 on the leading edge and 117 on the trailing edge. Each cell was made of polished Ge plates covered with 2.5 micron thick mylar foil at 200 microns from the Ge. Although all leading edge cells and 105 trailing edge cells had lost their plastic covers during flight, optical and electron microscope examination revealed extended impacts in bare cells from either edge that apparently were produced by high velocity projectiles while the plastic foils were still in place. Detailed optical scanning yielded 53 extended impacts on 100 bare cells from the trailing edge that were selected for SIMS chemical analysis. Lateral multi-element ion probe profiles were obtained on 40 of these impacts. Material that can be attributed to the incoming projectiles was found in all analyzed extended compact features and most seem to be associated with cosmic dust particles. However, LDEF deposits are systematically enriched in the refractory elements Al, Ca, and Ti relative to Mg and Fe when compared to IDP's collected in the stratosphere and to chondritic compositions. These differences are most likely due to elemental fractionation effects during the high velocity impact but real differences between interplanetary particles captured on LDEF and stratospheric IDP's cannot be excluded. Recently we extended our studies to cells from the leading edge and the covered cells from the trailing edge. The 12 covered cells contain 20 extended impact candidates. Ion probe analysis of 3 yielded results similar to those obtained for impacts on the bare cells from the trailing edge. Optical scanning of the bare leading edge cell also reveals many extended impacts (42 on 22 cells scanned to date), demonstrating that the cover foils remained intact at least for some time. However, SIMS analysis showed elements that can reasonably be attributed to micrometeoroids in only 2 out of 11 impacts. Eight impacts have residues dominated by Al and one dominated by Ti, indicating a preponderance of orbital debris in leading edge impacts.
Document ID
19920018016
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Amari, S.
(Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO., United States)
Foote, J.
(Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO., United States)
Simon, Charles G.
(Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO., United States)
Swan, P.
(Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO., United States)
Walker, R. M.
(Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO., United States)
Zinner, E.
(Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO., United States)
Jessberger, E. K.
(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Garching (Germany, F.R.)., United States)
Lange, G.
(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Garching (Germany, F.R.)., United States)
Stadermann, F.
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany F.R. , United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Langley Research Center, Second LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium Abstracts
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
92N27259
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available