Laboratory detection of organic dust with the Cassini-CDA instrument Original Research Article

Interplanetary dust missions like Stardust and Cassini-Huygens carry dust detectors which are able to determine the elemental composition of micro-meteorites. These dust detectors are time-of-flight mass spectrometers which analyse the plasma generated upon hypervelocity impacts. In order to analyze the data of these missions, simulations in the laboratory are necessary. The Heidelberg dust accelerator facility was used to shoot micron sized carbon and latex particles on the engineering models of the space experiments. The mass spectra achieved show sequences of broad peaks which are attributed to cluster ions of hydrocarbons. The overall charge yield of the impacts and the relative abundances of these cluster ions was investigated.