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Silica Aerogel Captures Cosmic Dust IntactThe mesostructure of silica aerogel resembles stings of grapes, ranging in size from 10 to 100 angstrom. This fine mesostructure transmits nearly 90 percent of incident light in the visible, while providing sufficiently gentle dissipation of the kinetric energy of hypervelocity cosmic dust particles to permit their intact capture. We introduced silica aerogel in 1987 as capture medium to take advantage of its low density, fine mesostruicture and most importantly, its transparency, allowing optical location of captured micron sized particles.
Document ID
20060038101
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Tsou, P.
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
September 19, 1994
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
aerogel comets cosmic dust extraterrestrial samples

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