PDS_VERSION_ID = PDS3 LABEL_REVISION_NOTE = " 2004-09-20, C. Neese, instrument catalog file created. " OBJECT = INSTRUMENT INSTRUMENT_ID = "CDA" INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID = "CO" OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_INFORMATION INSTRUMENT_NAME = "COSMIC DUST ANALYZER" INSTRUMENT_TYPE = "COSMIC DUST ANALYZER" INSTRUMENT_DESC = " Instrument Overview =================== The Cosmic Dust Analyser instrument (CDA) on the Cassini orbiter is the successor of the dust detectors flown on the Ulysses and the Galileo spacecraft. The instrument accomplishes the detection of dust impacts by two different means: (1) a high rate detector (HRD) using two separate polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sensors, and (2) a Dust Analyser (DA) based upon impact ionization. The DA measures the electric charges carried by the dust particle, the impact direction, the impact speed, mass, and the chemical composition, whereas the HRD is only capable to determine the mass for particles with a known speed. The DA detector consists of three components: the charge detection unit, the impact ionization detector itself, and the time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. Note that the charge detection unit subsystem generates signals (so-called 'QP signals') with a higher sampling rate than the signals generated by the impact ionization detector (QI, QT, QC, MP signals.) Furthermore, as the charge detection unit subsystem is sensitive to big particles only (> 5 microns), it was triggered only 6 times during the cruise phase. Therefore, in order to keep the telemetry data volume low, the QP signals were not always transmitted to Earth. This explains why the QI, QT, QC and MP signals directories in the PDS volumes may contain more signals than the QP directory. For a detailed description of the instrument, please refer to [SRAMAETAL2004B] (see CDAREFS.CAT). A separate instrument.cat file will be provided for HRD. The Charge Detection Unit ========================= The charge detection unit (CDU) consists of 4 entrance grids mounted in front of the ionization detector. The outermost and innermost grids are grounded, while the two innermost inclined grids are connected with a charge amplifier (QP charge signal). A charged particle flying through the entrance grid system induces its charge onto the innermost grids. The inclined grid mounting leads to asymmetric signal shapes which allows the determination of the particle direction as well as the particle speed within a plane. The Impact Ionization Detector ============================== The impact ionization detector consists of a hemispherical impact target (small inner target made of Rhodium chemical analyser target (CAT), a large outer target made of Gold impact ionization target (IID), and the ion collector grid system. The plasma constituents generated by the dust impact onto the impact target are separated by the electric field between the target and the ion grid. The plasma electrons are collected at the CAT (QC charge signal) and the IID (QT charge signal), while most of the positive plasma ions are collected at the ion collector grid system (QI charge signal). Ions escaping the impact ionization detector are inducing their charges onto the charge detection grids (QP charge signal). The particle mass and the impact speed is deduced from the evolution of the impact plasma: the charge yield of the impact plasma is a function of the impactor's mass and velocity, while the plasma charge rise time is dependent on the impact speed only. The Time-of-flight (TOF) Mass Spectrometer ========================================== The TOF mass spectrometer consists of the chemical analyser target (CAT), the chemical analyser grid located 3 mm in front of the CAT, and the multiplier dynodes connected with the Dynode Logarithmic Amplifier (MP signal). Due to the strong electric field between the grid and the CAT, positive plasma ions are separated very quickly from the plasma and accelerated toward the multiplier, forming a time-of-flight mass spectrum. " END_OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_INFORMATION OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_REFERENCE_INFO REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "SRAMAETAL2004B" END_OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_REFERENCE_INFO END_OBJECT = INSTRUMENT END