Vincenzo Della Corte , Stefano Ferretti , Alice Maria Piccirillo , Alessandra Rotundi , Ivano Bertini , Fabio Cozzolino , Alessio Ferone , Stefano Fiscale , Andrea Longobardo , Laura Inno , Eleonora Ammannito , Giuseppe Sindoni , Chiara Grappasonni , Matthew Sylvest , Manish R. Patel , Hanno Ertel , Mark Millinger , Hanna Rothkaehl
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The dust ejected by cometary nuclei encodes valuable information on the formation and evolution of the early Solar System. Multiple short-period comets have been studied in situ, but several perihelion passages considerably modified their pristine condition. Comet Interceptor is the first space mission selected by the European Space Agency to study a pristine dynamically new comet in situ. During a fast flyby through the comet coma, hypervelocity impacts with dust particles will represent not only an important source of information, but also a serious hazard to the spacecraft and its payload. Here we discuss the assessment tests performed on the dust shield of the Dust Impact Sensor and Counter instrument (DISC), part of the Comet Interceptor payload, which will be directly exposed to the cometary dust flux. Using a Light-Gas Gun, we shot mm-sized particles at 5 km/s, transferring momenta and kinetic energies representative of those foreseen for the mission. The impact effects on the DISC breadboard were compared to theoretical predictions by a ballistic limit equation for hypervelocity impacts. We find that, with a simple improvement in the dust shield design, DISC is compatible with the expected cometary environment.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Impact Engineering, established in 1983 publishes original research findings related to the response of structures, components and materials subjected to impact, blast and high-rate loading. Areas relevant to the journal encompass the following general topics and those associated with them:
-Behaviour and failure of structures and materials under impact and blast loading
-Systems for protection and absorption of impact and blast loading
-Terminal ballistics
-Dynamic behaviour and failure of materials including plasticity and fracture
-Stress waves
-Structural crashworthiness
-High-rate mechanical and forming processes
-Impact, blast and high-rate loading/measurement techniques and their applications