LAUSR

NASA has an ongoing program of collecting interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) in the stratosphere using high altitude research aircraft. The collected IDPs are derived from asteroids and comets and here we report studies of a subset of hydrated IDPs rich in carbonaceous matter that are proposed to have a cometary origin [1]. Our studies are aimed at understanding the evolution of oxygen reservoirs in the Solar System and their interaction with cometary minerals and organic matter. The small size (<20 m) and fragility of these IDPs present a number of analytical challenges. We have pioneered techniques for performing chemical, mineralogical, isotopic, and spectroscopic measurements on the same sample in a carefully coordinated sequence.