COSIMA:
Seriously, this is the kind of science that gives us more understanding how our solar system formed. From the smallest particle in the solar nebula upwards to rocks, to planetesimals, to planets. Just awesome.
Presentation for Rosetta's RPC instrument complex should be next.
- A lot of particles were collected by COSIMA during two "dust storms" in last two weeks, total "harvest" so far is 100 times of expectation
- Larger dust grains collected by Cosima seem themselves to be small "rubble piles" collapsing into a small pile of smaller particles after impacting the collector at slow speed
- Dust grains are mostly irregular shaped and are covered in "pits" on their surface
- One of the grains - nicknamed "Nick", all surveyed grains are named get people names - actually moved after it had been collected. They don't know what force moved them, one proposal is that some larger piles might be venting gas like "mini comets" themselves.
Seriously, this is the kind of science that gives us more understanding how our solar system formed. From the smallest particle in the solar nebula upwards to rocks, to planetesimals, to planets. Just awesome.
Presentation for Rosetta's RPC instrument complex should be next.
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