Haslebacher, Nico (2024). Studies of cometary dust environments in the context of the Comet Interceptor mission. (Thesis). Universität Bern, Bern

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Abstract

Comets are icy and active bodies that are often thought of as relics of the formation of our Solar System. ESA’s upcoming Comet Interceptor mission aims to be the first mission to a dynamically new comet. This could reveal unprecedented insights, because such an object returns to the vicinity of the Sun for the first time since the formation of the Solar System. In this work, I study the dust environment of comets in the context of the Comet Interceptor mission. I want to answer the following key questions: How do dust particle impacts affect the attitude of spacecraft? How large is the risk that dust particle impacts cause the imaging system to be off-pointing? How can the dust environment of comets be modelled in a time-efficient and flexible manner? To what extent can the dust particle size distribution of a cometary coma be constrained based on its colour? These questions are studied through numerical modelling. I find that, especially at high flyby velocities, dust impacts can significantly affect the attitude of a spacecraft. For Comet Camera (CoCa), the main imaging system onboard Comet Interceptor, it is likely that one or two images will be lost due to the attitude perturbations caused by dust impacts. To create a time-efficient and flexible model of the dust environment, I implement a model that calculates the number densities numerically, but solves the trajectories of the dust particles analytically. By applying this coma model, I find that a spectral ratio of a coma’s brightness (Afρ) correlates with the power-law index of the dust particle size distribution. Specifically, I model the spectral ratio of Afρ(425 nm)/Afρ(900 nm) to provide constraints on the power-law index. Further, the Afρ values of the blue (390-520 nm) and near-infrared (800-980 nm) filters of Comet Camera are ratioed to derive analogous constraints.

Item Type:	Thesis
Dissertation Type:	Cumulative
Date of Defense:	30 May 2024
Subjects:	500 Science > 520 Astronomy 600 Technology > 620 Engineering
Institute / Center:	08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute
Depositing User:	Sarah Stalder
Date Deposited:	04 Jul 2024 11:16
Last Modified:	05 Jul 2024 13:52
URI:	https://boristheses.unibe.ch/id/eprint/5178

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