Dust is ubiquitous in protoplanetary disks. IT is the building block from which all objects about STARS are created, including our own solar system. The way in which solar system objects formed was…

This is a $530,237 grant awarded by NASA's Shared Services Center to the Space Science Institute (SSI), a nonprofit research organization based in Boulder, Colorado. The grant is for a research project to study the light-scattering properties of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) using newly developed particle-trapping techniques. The goal is to better understand the composition and evolution of protoplanetary disks, which are the building blocks of solar systems like our own. The project will involve levitating and measuring the light scattering from actual IDPs, and comparing the results to model simulants to assess their accuracy. This work is expected to help interpret observations of protoplanetary disks and improve our understanding of how solar systems form. The grant does not have a set-aside designation, indicating SSI competed for the award based on scientific and technical merit. SSI has a history of federal contract and grant work with NASA and the National Science Foundation across various space science research domains.

Dust is ubiquitous in protoplanetary disks. IT is the building block from which all objects about STARS are created, including our own solar system. The way in which solar system objects formed was determined by the fundamental forces acting upon the dust particles within the protoplanetary, including especially gravity and radiation-pressure forces. The structure of a protoplanetary disk depends on the dynamical properties of the dust within. These properties are a complicated function that depends on the interaction of the star's radiation with the dust. Typically, these interactions are approximated by assuming the dust has a very simple, spherical shape. The use of such particles can give erroneous results, up to an order-of-magnitude difference in the radiation pressure, for instance, when compared with those of highly irregular particle simulants, like so-called agglomerated debris particles (arnold ET AL., 2019, 2022). To date, no light-scattering measurements have been made from real interplanetary dust particles (idps) that can be used to test model simulants. Recent research in optical trapping allows complete control and manipulation of micron-size particles. We will use this opportunity to levitate single idps and measure their light-scattering properties. We will compare these measurements with those of model simulants and examine their accuracy and appropriateness. While trapped, we will measure the IDP light-scattering properties and determine its dynamics when IT is illuminated by an external light source. This work will help US better understand the interaction of light with real idps and allow US to interpret more accurately the composition of protoplanetary disks, and how these systems evolved. In SUM: 1. We will use newly developed particle-trapping techniques to levitate and measure the light scattering from meteorites and idps 2. We will analyze the dynamics of idps when undergoing the effects of radiation pressure 3. Such information will help US to understand the early evolution of the protoplanetary disk and the formation of the solar system, the key objectives of this program.