HR: 0830h
AN: SA51B-0511    [PDF]
TI: MAGIC Collector - Direct Sampling of Meteoric Dust in the Mesosphere
AU: * Waldemarsson, K W
EM: twaldemarsson@ssd5.nrl.navy.mil
AF: Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AU: * Waldemarsson, K W
EM: twaldemarsson@ssd5.nrl.navy.mil
AF: E.O. Hulbert Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 United States
AU: Giovane, F
EM: fgiovane@ssd5.nrl.navy.mil
AF: E.O. Hulbert Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 United States
AU: Gumbel, J
EM: gumbel@misu.su.se
AF: Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, S-106 91 Sweden
AU: Blum, J
AF: Astrophysical Institute, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, 07745 Germany
AU: Reissaus, P
AF: Institute of Astronautics, Technical University of Munich, Garching, 85748 Germany
AB: Recondensation of evaporated meteoric material is thought to form particles in the nanometer size range. Notwithstanding the lack of direct evidence of these particles, it has been suggested that these small particles of meteoric origin may play a key role in a number of mesospheric processes related to noctilucent clouds, polar mesosphere summer echos, charge balance and neutral chemistry. We will present a recently developed instrument, MAGIC (Mesospheric Aerosol - Genesis, Interaction and Composition), designed for {\it in situ} collection of neutral nanometer-size particles in the mesosphere. The instrument will for the first time allow us to bring these particles from the mesosphere into the laboratory and to study their properties in detail. The MAGIC instrument is intended to be carried on a sounding rocket and with a mass of less than 1.5 kg, the collector is completely self-contained and requires no telemetry. MAGIC collectors are currently being built at NRL, and two rocket flights in collaboration with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the University of Stockholm, are scheduled in the spring of 2004 from Wallops Island, Virginia, and in the winter of 2004/5 from Esrange, Sweden.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA - Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting