{"id":53432,"date":"2021-11-03T17:35:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T16:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/?post_type=kb_magazin&p=53432"},"modified":"2022-11-18T17:44:04","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T16:44:04","slug":"comets-in-the-laboratory","status":"publish","type":"kb_magazin","link":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/m-post\/comets-in-the-laboratory\/","title":{"rendered":"Comets in the laboratory"},"content":{"rendered":"

An international research project on comets was launched at the end of 2018: How did they form and how can comets “eject” their dust? To find out, scientists in Braunschweig have set up a new laboratory. The heart of the project is the so-called L-chamber, a thermal vacuum chamber equipped with 14 different instruments from various partner institutions. The results submitted for publication were apparently so convincing that the associated publication was selected as an “Editor’s Pick” by the Review of Scientific Instruments<\/a> magazine – a sign of great recognition. Now the project would like to go into the second round.<\/p>\n

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Dust-ice sample: It becomes clear what cohesion can look like: The material adheres to each other so strongly that abstract structures are created, such as these overhangs, for example. Photo credit: CoPhyLab<\/p><\/div>\n

“Many measuring instruments are attached to our large vacuum chamber. This was only possible thanks to the international collaboration in the \u201eComet Physics Laboratory\u201c (CoPhyLab)<\/a> project. The chamber is unique in the world,” says Dr. Bastian Gundlach from the Institute of Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics at Technische Universit\u00e4t Braunschweig, who heads the CoPhyLab.<\/p>\n

The large chamber was completed this summer and is now ready to start work. In total, more than 25 scientists from seven different institutions are now involved in the project.<\/p>\n

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The thermal vacuum chamber. Photo credit: CoPhyLab<\/p><\/div>\n

Of course, the researchers would like to continue working together in CoPhyLab: “We have just submitted a follow-up application in the DFG WEAVE procedure (international projects with several project partners),” says Dr. Gundlach. He expects a decision in the second quarter of 2022. The plan is then to investigate, for example, what influence salts and amorphous water ice – a form of solid water that can occur at very low temperatures – have on the activity of comets.<\/p>\n