Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität
Münster
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Institut für Planetologie Wilhelm-Klemmstrasse 10 48149 Münster Geschäftsführender Direktor: Prof. Dr. Tilman Spohn |
Tel. (0251) 83-33496
Fax: (0251) 83-36301 e-mail: ifp@uni-muenster.de www: http://ifp.uni-muenster.de/ |
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Forschungsschwerpunkte 2001 - 2002 Fachbereich 14 - Geowissenschaften
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The Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyser CDA
The
Cassini-Huygens Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) is intended (a) to provide direct observations
of dust grains
with masses between 10-19 and 10-9 kg in interplanetary space and
in the Jovian and
Saturnian systems, (b) to investigate their physical, chemical and dynamical properties as
functions of the
distances to the sun, to Jupiter and to Saturn and its satellites and rings, and (c) to study their
interaction with
the Saturnian rings, satellites and magnetosphere. Chemical composition of interplanetary
meteoroids then can
be compared with asteroidal and cometary dust, as well as with Saturnian dust and ejecta from
rings and
satellites. Ring and satellites phenomena, which might be effects of meteoroid impacts, will be
compared with
the interplanetary dust environment. Electrical charges of particulate matter in the
magnetosphere and its
consequences will be studied; e.g., the effects of the ambient plasma and the magnetic field and
the trajectories
of dust particles as well as fragmentation of particles due to electrostatic disruption.The
investigation will be
performed with an instrument that measures the mass, composition, electric charge, speed, and
flight direction
of individual dust particles. It is a highly reliable and versatile instrument with a mass
sensitivity
106 times higher than that of the Pioneer 10 and 11 dust detectors, which
measured dust in the
Saturnian system. The Cosmic-Dust-Analyzer, CDA, has significant inheritance from former
space
instrumentation developed for the VEGA, Giotto, Galileo, and Ulysses missions. lt will reliably
measure
impacts from as low as 1 impact per month up to 104 impacts per second. The instrument
weighs 17 kg
and consumes 12 Watts; the integrated time-of-flight mass spectrometer has a mass
resolution of up to
50.
Drittmittelgeber: Beteiligter Wissenschaftler: Veröffentlichungen: |
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