Cutaway diagram of the The Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX) instrument collects and analyzes interstellar dust and interplanetary dust particles found in our solar system to better understand their compositions, the speeds they travel, their concentrations within our solar system, and their interactions with the solar wind. sensor head, showing the principle of operation.
IDEX is a A measure of the flow of events.-of-flight (TOF) dust impact The process by which ions are produced, typically occurring by collisions with atoms or electrons ("collisional ionization") or by interaction with electromagnetic radiation ("photoionization"). A measure of an object's resistance to change in its motion (inertial mass); a measure of the strength of gravitational force an object can produce (gravitational mass). An instrument for measuring the intensity of radiation as a function of wavelength or particles as a function of energy. that provides the elemental The specific components or “ingredients” that make up a substance or type of matter., speed, and mass distributions of Tiny particles of solid matter found in the interstellar medium that are believed to be formed from supernova star events that result in the formation of stars and planetary systems, including those found in our solar system. and The small particles of solid matter that are believed to originate from comets and asteroids found between planets in a system. particles. IDEX links the makeup of interstellar dust with the composition of interstellar neutrals and pickup ions (PUIs) measured by IMAP-Lo, CoDICE, and SWAPI.
High-speed impacts with the gold-coated target smashes dust grains into their composite ions, which is called impact ionization. These fragments then spray upwards through the time-of-flight system and are redirected to the An instrument which is used to discover that something is present somewhere, or to measure how much of something there is. allowing the elemental makeup of particles to be identified. In this way, IDEX is able to reveal the composition of interstellar material locked in dust grains, garnering critical insight on the evolution of interstellar material and the interaction of our The bubble-like region surrounding the solar system inflated by the solar wind, shielding the solar system from interstellar radiation. with its local interstellar neighborhood.
IDEX design and build is led by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).