Jul 31 1976
From The Space Library
Johnson Space Center employees Herbert A. Zook and Richard W. High received a patent this week for invention of a "capture cell," a device to capture meteoroids traveling through space and preserve them for scientific analysis. The cube-shaped cell had an open side covered by a thin membrane; a meteoroid striking the membrane would enter the cell and shatter, but the remnants and any vapor created by the heat of impact would remain inside the cell, which was constructed of a material like polyethylene. Large arrays of the cells would be exposed on a spacecraft for a long time, up to a year, to allow time for a number of strikes to occur. Interest in the composition of meteoroids springs from the possible information on larger bodies such as comets or asteroids on which they originated. (NYT, 31 July 76, 27)
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