DuneXpress

Abstract

The DuneXpress observatory will characterize interstellar and interplanetary dust in-situ, in order to provide crucial information not achievable with remote sensing astronomical methods. Galactic interstellar dust constitutes the solid phase of matter from which stars and planetary systems form. Interplanetary dust, from comets and asteroids, represents remnant material from bodies at different stages of early solar system evolution. Thus, studies of interstellar and interplanetary dust with DuneXpress in Earth orbit will provide a comparison between the composition of the interstellar medium and primitive planetary objects. Hence DuneXpress will provide insights into the physical conditions during planetary system formation. This comparison of interstellar and interplanetary dust addresses directly themes of highest priority in astrophysics and solar system science, which are described in ESA's Cosmic Vision. The discoveries of interstellar dust in the outer and inner solar system during the last decade suggest an innovative approach to the characteriza-

Dust detector using piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate with current-to-voltage converting amplifier for functional advancement

“…Actually, DC3 will be used with a trajectory detector of DuneXpress, DT1, but an impact ionization detector such as DC3 can obtain the masses and the speeds of hypervelocity microparticles by itself. DC3 comprises 25 sensing modules, each 9 × 9 cm 2 , mounted in a 5 × 5 array, thereby it has a detection area of 0.2 m 2 , a weight of 9 kg, a volume of 50 × 50 × 23 cm 3 , and a power consumption of 9 W (Grün et al, 2009). On the other hand, drawing on the practical design of BepiColombo MDM (Nogami et al, 2010), the dust monitor using the new method with the same detection area of 0.2 m 2 , will require less resources, a weight of 8 kg, a power consumption of 6 W and a volume of 50 × 50 × 1 cm 3 : the occupied volume is significantly reduced.…”

“…Several models of dust flux in interplanetary space have been developed (Divine, 1993;Dikarev et al, 2005); however, these models can be improved by further observations with a higher statistical precision. Therefore, dust counters and analyzers with large detection areas have been recently proposed for a future space mission, DuneXpress (Grün et al, 2009). The payload of DuneXpress consists of seven sophisticated instruments for dust observation.…”

SARIM PLUS—sample return of comet 67P/CG and of interstellar matter

“…Complementary impact detectors shall be used in order to contrain the dust particle properties. Three different dust cameras are proposed and they are described in the SARIM and DuneXpress mission concepts [18,44].…”

“…Now, the analysis of galactic dust with spacecraft at Earth distance from the Sun is within our reach. SARIM PLUS combines the scientific goals of DuneXpress [18] and SARIM [44].…”

A future observational plan of dust particles around the Moon by LDM (Lunar Dust Monitor) onboard the orbiter of the next Japanese lunar mission

“…As for dust observation in a debris-free environment for one year, cosmicdust observation with a large detection area is certainly of significance. Recently, large-detection-area dust counters have been proposed for future space missions in Earth orbit (Sternovsky et al, 2007;Grün et al, 2009). If those missions are realized, many subjects that have been neglected due to insufficient statistics of dust observation might be solved.…”