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The thermal history of interplanetary dust particles collected in the Earth's stratosphereFragments of 24 individual interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) collected in the Earth's stratosphere were obtained from NASA's Johnson Space Center collection and subjected to pulse-heating sequences to extract He and Ne and to learn about the thermal history of the particles. A motivation for the investigation was to see if the procedure would help distinguish between IDPs of asteroidal and cometary origin. The use of a sequence of short-duration heat pulses to perform the extractions is an improvement over the employment of a step-heating sequence, as was used in a previous investigation. The particles studied were fragments of larger parent IDPs, other fragments of which, in coordinated experiments, are undergoing studies of elemental and mineralogical composition in other laboratories. While the present investigation will provide useful temperature history data for the particles, the relatively large size of the parent IDPs (approximately 40 micrometers in diameter) resulted in high entry deceleration temperatures. This limited the usefulness of the study for distinguishing between particles of asteroidal and cometary origin.
Document ID
19950047184
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Nier, A. O.
(University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN United States)
Schlutter, D. J.
(University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Meteoritics
Volume: 28
Issue: 5
ISSN: 0026-1114
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
95A78783
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG9-110
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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