Hypervelocity sub 10-micron impacts into aluminium foil: new experimental data and implications for comet 81P/Wild-2's dust fluence

ORAL

Abstract

Recent experimental work (\textit{Price, M. C. et. al., LPSC XXXX, {\#}1564, 2009) }has shown that the lip-to-lip diameter of hypervelocity impact craters at micron-scales (D$_{p}<$ 10 microns) is a non-linear function of the impactor's diameter (D$_{p})$. We present data for monodisperse silica projectiles impacting aluminium-1100 and elemental aluminium at 6.1 km$\backslash $sec and discuss the implications of this effect for the Stardust fluence calibration for micron-scale particles (which make up the majority of the impactor flux). Hydrocodes have been used to investigate the potential causes of the phenomena and the results are presented.

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Authors

  • Mark C. Price

    • Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
    • School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

  • Anton T. Kearsley

    • IARC, Dept. of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, London, UK

  • Mark J. Burchell

    • School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

  • Friedrich Horz

    • LZ Technology/ECSG, Johnson Space Centre, Houston, TX, USA

  • Mike J. Cole

    • School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK