Non-silica aerogels as hypervelocity particle capture materials

Abstract

Abstract– The Stardust sample return mission to the comet Wild 2 used silica aerogel as the principal cometary and interstellar particle capture and return medium. However, since both cometary dust and interstellar grains are composed largely of silica, using a silica collector complicates the science that can be accomplished with these particles. The use of non-silica aerogel in future extra-terrestrial particle capture and return missions would expand the scientific value of these missions. Alumina, titania, germania, zirconia, tin oxide, and resorcinol/formaldehyde aerogels were produced and impact tested with 20, 50, and 100 μm glass microspheres to determine the suitability of different non-silica aerogels as hypervelocity particle capture mediums. It was found that non-silica aerogels do perform as efficient hypervelocity capture mediums, with alumina, zirconia, and resorcinol/formaldehyde aerogels proving to be the best of the materials tested.