First results of particulate impacts and foil perforations on LDEF

McDonnell, J. A. M.; Deshpande, S.P.; Green, S.F.; Newman, Peter; Paley, M. T.; Ratcliff, P.R.; Stevenson, T.; Sullivan, K.

doi:10.1016/0273-1177(91)90551-t

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Therefore, for marginal perforation, the ratio of the foil thickness limit to the semi-infinite crater diameter is given as f=0.71D c . Relevant penetration relationships are published in McDonnell et al (1990). We use these relationships currently to compare thick target data and thin foil perforation data for the same type of material (aluminium).…”

Section: Penetration Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data on LDEF's impact environment are available from spacecraft recovery and deintegration procedures and also from Principal Investigator experiments. Principal Investigator impact data exist in published form from the A0023 Micro Abrasion Package (MAP) experiment (McDonnell et al, 1990) and from the A0201 Interplanetary Dust Experiment (IDE) (Singer et al, 1990). The plots shown in Figure 2 for the MAP experiment result from a large number of independent measurements on aluminium surfaces of different thicknesses.…”

Section: Data Available From Ldef's Exposurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Particulate Detection in the Near Earth Space Environment Aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility Ldef: Cosmic or Terrestrial?

McDonnell

Sullivan

Stevenson

et al. 1991

International Astronomical Union Colloquium

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Examination of surfaces exposed for more than five and a half years, from detectors with unique attitude stabilisation relative to the orbital velocity vector, offers scope for examining definitively the sources of hypervelocity space particulates. Surfaces reveal discrete crater morphologies, crater size distributions and incident flux distributions. Discrete crater studies will later also reveal the chemistry of residues which can, especially via the capture cell principle, lead to elemental analysis of micron dimensioned particles.First analyses of the flux data from the thin foil perforation experiments (MAP) involve a study of the statistics of the forward (ram) direction, the rear (trailing) direction and the space pointing direction. Modelling of the dynamics of geocentrically bound and unbound orbits yields evidence that the characteristics of the particles, and hence probably their source, change over the particle size range measured by the experiment. Smaller particles (< 1 μm diameter) have lower velocities which could include geocentrically bound particulates, whereas the larger particles (5-10 μm diameter) can be identified with “cosmic” particles of interplanetary or interstellar origin.

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Section: Penetration Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Available From Ldef's Exposurementioning

confidence: 99%

Particulate Detection in the Near Earth Space Environment Aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility Ldef: Cosmic or Terrestrial?

McDonnell

Sullivan

Stevenson

et al. 1991

International Astronomical Union Colloquium

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“…The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) has provided an unprecedented source of information on extraterrestrial particulates after almost 6 years in low Earth orbit. Some initial results are presented by McDonnell et al (1990;1991). Any instrument to detect interplanetary or orbital particles will not immediately reveal the true space density or flux in Earth orbit.…”

Section: Dynamic Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic Modelling Transformations for the Low Earth Orbit Satellite Particulate Environment

McDonnell

Sullivan

Green

et al. 1991

International Astronomical Union Colloquium

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A simple dynamic model to investigate the relative fluxes and particle velocities on a spacecraft’s different faces is presented. The results for LDEF are consistent with a predominantly interplanetary origin for the larger particulates, but a sizable population of orbital particles with sizes capable of penetrating foils of thickness <30μm. Data from experiments over the last 30 years do not show the rise in flux expected if these were space debris. The possibility of a population of natural orbital particulates awaits confirmation from chemical residue analysis.

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“…Though sensitive only to the uppermost few regolith grains, orbital measurements provide information about how maturity varies across the entire lunar surface and relates to age and composition. Space weathering is ubiquitous on airless bodies and much work has been done to characterize and understand the process from Mercury (Domingue et al, 2014;Lucey & Riner, 2011;Noble & Pieters, 2003;Riner & Lucey, 2012;Sasaki & Kurahashi, 2004) to Ceres and Vesta (Blewett et al, 2016;Fulvio et al, 2012;Pieters et al, 2012Stephan et al, 2017) and the asteroids (Clark et al, 2002;Gaffey, 2010;Hiroi et al, 2006;Nesvorný et al, 2005;Noguchi et al, 2011). While the surface weathering process operates similarly throughout the inner solar system, there are significant variations in the chemical byproducts and rates of weathering that make the process unique to each space weathered body.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical and Chemical Evolution of Lunar Mare Regolith

O'Brien¹,

Byrne²

2021

JGR Planets

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The surfaces of airless bodies like the Moon are directly exposed to the space environment and as a result change both physically and chemically over time due to processes collectively known as space weathering. The rate of space weathering on the lunar landscape is poorly understood because these two facets of surface evolution have yet to be fully linked. Macroscopic physical processes like impact cratering disrupt and overturn the upper surface layer comprised of loose, unconsolidated material known as soil or regolith (Shoemaker et al., 1969). As the landscape evolves and material is transported across the surface, the microscopic chemical structure of material on the surface is altered by micrometeorite impacts, cosmic rays, and the solar wind (Hapke, 2001; Pieters & Noble, 2016). These processes are deeply coupled since the amount of time material spends on the surface exposed to the space environment depends on the rate at which material is cycled in and out of the uppermost regolith layer. Analysis of lunar soil properties from Apollo program samples and remote sensing surface reflectance measurements have characterized the degree of space weathering, or maturity, of the lunar regolith (Lucey Abstract The lunar landscape evolves both physically and chemically over time due to impact cratering and energetic processes collectively known as space weathering. Despite returned soil samples and global remote sensing reflectance measurements, the rate of space weathering in the lunar regolith is not well understood. To address this, we developed a novel three-dimensional landscape evolution model to simulate the physical processes that control the burial, excavation, and transport of regolith on airless bodies. Applying this model to the lunar mare, we find that over billions of years of surface evolution, material typically spends only a few million years on the surface where it is exposed to the effects of space weathering. The small surface residence times are a result of vigorous mixing by small-scale impacts, predominantly driven by secondary crater formation. We deduce the rate of space weathering by comparing our modeled distribution of surface residence times on the lunar mare to measurements of space weathering maturity from Apollo soil samples and orbital surface reflectance datasets. These chemical constraints indicate that soil on the lunar mare reaches maturity in 7 Myr of cumulative surface exposure though due to uncertainties in the rate of small secondary crater production, this timescale could be 2-3 times higher. Weathering progresses more rapidly upon initial exposure to space but the surface residence time required to achieve maturity is realized over billions of years as regolith is repeatedly buried and exposed by small impacts. Plain Language Summary On the Moon, large impact craters churn the upper soil layers and micrometeorites, galactic cosmic rays, and the solar wind alter the chemical structure of material on the surface in a process called space weathering. The relationship between ...

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First results of particulate impacts and foil perforations on LDEF

Cited by 9 publications

References 6 publications

Particulate Detection in the Near Earth Space Environment Aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility Ldef: Cosmic or Terrestrial?

Particulate Detection in the Near Earth Space Environment Aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility Ldef: Cosmic or Terrestrial?

Dynamic Modelling Transformations for the Low Earth Orbit Satellite Particulate Environment

Physical and Chemical Evolution of Lunar Mare Regolith

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