MAGIC Collector - Direct Sampling of Meteoric Dust in the Mesosphere

Recondensation of evaporated meteoric material is thought to form particles in the nanometer size range. Notwithstanding the lack of direct evidence of these particles, it has been suggested that these small particles of meteoric origin may play a key role in a number of mesospheric processes related to noctilucent clouds, polar mesosphere summer echos, charge balance and neutral chemistry. We will present a recently developed instrument, MAGIC (Mesospheric Aerosol - Genesis, Interaction and Composition), designed for in situ collection of neutral nanometer-size particles in the mesosphere. The instrument will for the first time allow us to bring these particles from the mesosphere into the laboratory and to study their properties in detail. The MAGIC instrument is intended to be carried on a sounding rocket and with a mass of less than 1.5 kg, the collector is completely self-contained and requires no telemetry. MAGIC collectors are currently being built at NRL, and two rocket flights in collaboration with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the University of Stockholm, are scheduled in the spring of 2004 from Wallops Island, Virginia, and in the winter of 2004/5 from Esrange, Sweden.