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Approximately 0.63 [m.sup.2] of Si[O.sub.2]-based aerogel (0.02 g [cm.sup.-3]) was exposed for 18 months on the Mir Station to capture hypervelocity particles from both man-made and natural sources. Optical inspection revealed two major classes of hypervelocity impact features in the aerogel: (1) long, carrot-shaped tracks, well known from laboratory impact experiments, that exhibit a depth- (t) to-diameter (D) relationship of t/D [is greater than] 10, typically 20-30, and (2) shallow pits (t/D [is less than] 10; typically 1-3) that have no laboratory analog. Blunt-nosed, yet deep (t/D = 5-10), cylindrically shaped cavities suggest the existence of transitional morphologies between these tracks and pits. All tracks contain projectile residues that are unmelted, while pits rarely contain even traces of projectile material. These and other observations suggest that slender tracks form at lower impact velocities than the shallow pits. In addition, we observed that the measured track-length does not systematically correlate with the size of the projectile residue. This renders the reconstruction of encounter velocity and/or projectile mass from measured track dimensions not feasible at present. Recovery of particles from individual tracks is time-consuming, yet readily accomplished by operators familiar with the handling of individual, micrometer-sized particles. Compositional analyses by SEM-EDS identified a variety of man-made and natural particles. A few natural particles were embedded in epoxy, microtomed, and analyzed by TEM. All were polymineralic aggregates that contained olivine exhibiting sharp electron-diffraction spots, and suggesting that the materials had experienced only minimal shock-deformation, if any. One natural particle contained olivine, augite, diopside, troilite, chromite/magnetite, and hercynite, the latter existing as pristine, undeformed octahedral crystals. The olivine in two of the particles were [Fo.sub.60-70] and [Fo.sub.39-53], and thus, more equilibrated than olivines in most stratospheric particles ([Fo.sub.80-100]). These results illustrate that particle collections in Earth orbit are highly complementary to ground-based collections of cosmic dust. [C] 2000 Academic Press Key Words: collisional physics; cratering; impact processes; interplanetary dust; meteorites.

Images taken by the Stardust mission during its flyby of 81P/Wild 2 show the comet to be a 5-kilometer oblate body covered with remarkable topographic features, including unusual circular features that appear to be impact craters. The presence of high-angle slopes shows that the surface is cohesive and self-supporting. The comet does not appear to be a rubble pile, and its rounded shape is not directly consistent with the comet being a fragment of a larger body. The surface is active and yet it retains ancient terrain. Wild 2 appears to be in the early stages of its degradation phase as a small volatile-rich body in the inner solar system.

The Pathfinder landing site on Mars has boulders that may be cratered (Stimpy), split (Chimp), fragmented (Book End and Flat Top), or otherwise partly destroyed (Yogi and Frog) by collisional processes. Atmospheric-entry calculations show that centimeter-sized projectiles survive passage through the martian atmosphere and encounter the surface of Mars at velocities of a few kilometers per second. Craters less than 1 meter in diameter may contribute to the evolution of the martian surface and its soils.

Amino acids were subjected to shock impact over a pressure range of 3.5 to 32 GPa both within and without meteoritic mineral matrices. The extent of amino acid destruction, racemization, and conversion to secondary amino acids was examined. Abundances of parent compounds decreased by a factor of 10(3) over this pressure range. Racemization also occurred, but some residual optical activity remained in the amino acids surviving shocks up to 32 GPa. Secondary amino acids formed in the high peak pressure range; those identified were beta-alanine, glycine, alanine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and beta-aminoisobutyric acid. At 30 GPa, the abundances of these daughter compounds exceeded those of the remaining initial amino acids. As the concomitant effects of high mechanical stress and temperature accompanying shocks cannot be separated in this work, their relative contribution to the observed transformations cannot be estimated. The survival of amino acids in shock experiments suggests that, after formation or emplacement of amino acids in carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies, these objects never experienced impact velocities greater than 5 km/s, which suffices to generate 30 GPa for typical silicate/silicate impacts. These results also provide guidelines for choosing appropriate capture media for interplanetary dust particles on Earth-orbiting platforms.