Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyser: Composition of Dust at Saturn (original) (raw)

We discuss issues involved with interpreting time-of-flight mass spectra (TOFMS) obtained by the Chemical Analyser subsystem of the Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyser (CDA). We use an in-house ion dynamics code specifically written for CDA which helps us to understand and constrain the initial impact plasma ion kinetic energy and angular distributions. We also present some typical results obtained from within the Saturnian system. We find that particles predominantly consist of water ice (manifesting itself in the TOFMS as hydronium ions, with varying numbers of water molecules attached) and minor silicate impurities. Some ammonia may also be present.