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SEM-EDS analyses of small craters in Stardust
aluminum foils: Implications for the Wild-2 dust
distribution.
Borg J., Hörz F., Bridges J. C., Burchell M. J.,
Djouadi Z., Floss C., Graham G. A., Green S. F., Heck P. R.,
Hoppe P., Huth J., Kearsley A., Leroux H., Marhas K.,
Stadermann F. J., and Teslich N. (2007)
Lunar. Planet. Sci. XXXVIII, Abstract #1592.
ABSTRACT
Aluminium foils were used on Stardust to stabilize the
aerogel specimens in the modular collector tray. Part of
these foils were fully exposed to the flux of cometary
grains emanating from Wild 2. Because the exposed part of
these foils had to be harvested before extraction of the
aerogel, numerous foil strips some 1.7 mm wide and 13 or 33
mm long were generated during Stardusts's Preliminary
Examination (PE). These strips are readily accommodated in
their entirety in the sample chambers of modern SEMs, thus
providing the opportunity to characterize in situ the size
distribution and residue composition - employing EDS methods
- of statistically more significant numbers of cometary dust
particles compared to aerogel, the latter mandating
extensive sample preparation. We describe here the analysis
of nearly 300 impact craters and their implications for Wild
2 dust.
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