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Discovery of Non-random Spatial Distribution of Impacts in the Stardust Cometary CollectorWe report the discovery that impacts in the Stardust cometary collector are not distributed randomly in the collecting media, but appear to be clustered on scales smaller than 10 cm. We also report the discovery of at least two populations of oblique tracks. We evaluated several hypotheses that could explain the observations. No hypothesis was consistent with all the observations, but the preponderance of evidence points toward at least one impact on the central Whipple shield of the spacecraft as the origin of both clustering and low-angle oblique tracks. High-angle oblique tracks unambiguously originate from a non-cometary impact on the spacecraft bus just forward of the collector.
Document ID
20070011624
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Horz, Friedrich (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Westphal, Andrew J. (California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Gainsforth, Zack (California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Borg, Janet (IAS Orsay, France)
Djouadi, Zahia (IAS Orsay, France)
Bridges, John (Open Univ. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Franchi, Ian (Open Univ. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Brownlee, Donald E. (Washington Univ. Seattle, WA, United States)
Cheng. Andrew F. (Johns Hopkins Univ. Laurel, MD, United States)
Clark, Benton C. (Lockheed Corp. Littleton, CO, United States)
Floss, Christine (Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2007
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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