Mass-spectrometric in situ studies of cometary organics for p/Halley and options for the future.
When the VEGA and GIOTTO spacecrafts flew by comet p/Halley in 1986 the mass-spectrometers Puma and PIA measured the composition of cometary dust particles impacting at speeds of well above 65 km/s.  Ion formation upon impact lead to mostly atomic ions.  However, a small fraction of the ions measured could be related to molecules.  A sophisticated analysis allowed for the first time to point to the chemical nature of cometary organics based on actual mass spectra.  With the instrument CoMA for the NASA-BMFT mission CRAF much higher mass-resolution and molecule masses become accessible for in situ measurement, and will yield complementary information to the gas chromatograph CIDEX also onboard CRAF.
Kissel
J
J
Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany.
Krueger
F R
FR
D055580:Astronomical Phenomena; D001256:Astronomy; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D019443:Cosmic Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D018559:Exobiology; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry; D019110:Meteoroids; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D013026:Space Flight; D018531:Spacecraft / Q000295:instrumentation; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
D019443:Cosmic Dust; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen