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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
A passive interplanetary dust collection experiment, currently in orbit aboard LDEF (Long Duration Exposure Facility), is described. The collectors, germanium target plates covered by metallized Mylar foils, are designed for secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements of the elemental and isotopic compositions of residues resulting from micrometeoroid (> 10−10 grams) impacts. Impact simulation experiments have demonstrated the validity of the collection concept. Quantitative elemental analyses are complicated by the non-uniform distribution of projectile-derived elements.