1. RocketSat VI Meteoric Smoke Particles June 23, 2010 Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI 1

2. Mission Overview Goal is to characterize atmosphere for amount of meteoric smoke particles – Looking for numerical density/altitude and charge Particles are being studied by many scientists for effects on upper atmosphere – Possible connection to PMCs – Models predicting global shift of these particles, not proven – Have been measured <10 times

3. Background: Meteoric Dust Meteoroids enter atmosphere and disintegrate – Up to 100 metric tons of meteoric debris per day Meteoric dust remains mostly in the mesosphere Dust particles remain in the atmosphere for several months – Water freezes around nucleus – Particles descend and increase in size as more water is frozen to the exterior Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI 3 Polar Mesosphere summer echoes (PSME): review of observations and current understandings M. Rapp abd F.-J. Lϋbken Beibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics

4. Significance of Results Noctilucent Clouds Minimum temperatures nearing 140 K allow for heterogeneous nucleation of ice – Meteoric smoke particles most likely serve as nucleus – Growth to a radius of up to 50 nm Particles visible as Noctilucent clouds(NLC) – Also known as polar mesospheric clouds (PMC) Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI 4 Global Warming Larger concentrations of methane results in more water vapor Larger concentrations of carbon dioxide results in cooler temperatures Cooler temperatures and more water vapor correlate to more ice particles Credit: NASA/Donald Petit.

5. Expected Results Previous experiments show a higher concentration of these particles in the atmosphere from 75 – 95 km Expect similar trends in data but smaller magnitude Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI

6. Particle Detectors Graphite patch detectors – detect current – As a particle impacts the detector, charge is deposited onto graphite and creates a current Equation required to convert measured current to numerical density Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI

7. Numerical Density I: current – obtained from graphite patch detector S eff : effective area of graphite patch detector – = area of patch * sin(angle of attack) – Gyroscopes used to measure position to obtain AOA u: velocity of rocket – Using accelerometers to determine velocity q: one elementary charge – 1.602×10 −19 coulombs Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI 7

8. Electrical System Five electronics boards used to store flight data – Individual microcontrollers, memory, and power CVAs – Current to Voltage Amplifiers – Amplify current signal from detector and convert to voltage MEPO – MEsospheric Particle Observation board – Measures voltage incoming from CVAs SCIENCE – measures angular spin rate on pitch, roll, yaw axes AVR – collects acceleration data Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI

9. Flight Boards Science BoardMEPO Board AVR Board Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI 9

10. Structure Shared canister with Virginia Tech Stacked multiple boards on each plate Used steel rods around standoffs for ballast Colorado Space Grant Consortium RocketSat VI