Purity and Cleanness of Aeorgel as a Cosmic Dust Capture Medium

The capability for capturing micrometeoroids intact through laboratory simulations [Tsou 1988] and in space [Tsou 1993] in passive underdense silica aerogel offers a valuable tool for cosmic dust research. The integrity of the sample handling medium can substantially modify the integrity of the sample. Intact capture is a violent hypervelocity event: the integrity of the capturing medium can cause even greater modification of the sample.