Dust Impact Monitor (DIM) onboard Rosetta/Philae: Tests with ice particles as comet analog materials

In 2014 the European Space Agency׳s spacecraft Rosetta will encounter the short-period comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta carries the lander spacecraft Philae on board which will attempt to land on the comet׳s nucleus. Amongst Philae׳s instruments, the Dust Impact Monitor (DIM) using piezoelectric sensors is aimed at measuring the physical properties (size and impact speed) of the millimetric and submillimetric dust and ice particles that move near the surface of comet 67P. Given that DIM has three orthogonal sensor sides (with about 70 cm2) total area), it will also be able to collect dynamical data, like an estimation of the particle flux in three dimension, that will help to derive daily and secular variations in the surface activity. We show the results of a series of calibration experiments with the goal to extend the performance tests of DIM. We tested DIM under particle impacts of densities similar to and larger than that of water ice (0.92-7.80 g/cm3) and at speeds from 0.3 to 1.9 m/s. Then, we performed experiments with spherical water ice particles between −40 °C and −20 °C. Finally, we measured the coefficient of restitution (COR) of the impacting particles. These data show that there is a loss mechanism in the impact which is caused by plastic deformation in the contact zones of both the impinging particle and the PZT sensor.