Magrathea: Dust Growth Experiment in Micro-Gravity Conditions
Magrathea: Dust growth experiment in micro-gravity conditions André G. C. Guerraa,∗, Adrián Banos Garcíab, Adrián Castanón Estebanc, Fabio Fabozzid, Marta Golie, Jonas Greiff, Anton B.Ivanovg,h, Lisa Jonssoni, Kieran Leschinskij, Victoria Lofstadk, Marine Martin-Lagardel, John McCleanm, Mattia Reganazn, Julia Seibezedero, Esmee Stoopp, Gwenaël Van Looverenq, Jophiel Wiisr aDepartamento de Física e Astronomia, Centro de Física do Porto, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Portugal bUniversidad Politécnica de Madrid, España cUniversität Innsbruck, Austria dUniversity of Rome La Sapienza, Italy eWarsaw University of Technology, Poland fUniversity Jena, Astrophysical Institute and University-Observatory, Germany gEPFL Space Center, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland hSpace Center, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia iLuleå University of Technology, Sweden jUniversity of Vienna, Department of Astrophysics, Austria kUniversity of Oslo, Norway lCEA Paris-Saclay, France mImperial College London, United Kingdom nChair of Turbomachinery and Flight Propulsion, Technical University of Munich, Germany oIGAM, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria pLeiden Observatory, Faculty of Science of Leiden University, The Netherlands qKU Leuven, Belgium rUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract One of the least understood processes in astrophysics is the formation of planetesimals from molecules and dust within protoplanetary disks. In fact, current methods have strong limitations when it comes to model the full dynamics in this phase of planet formation, where small dust aggregates collide and grow into bigger clusters. That is why microgravity experiments of the phenomena involved are important to reveal the underlying physics. Because previous experiments had some limitations, in particular short durations and constrained dimensions, a new mission to study the very first stages of planet formation is proposed here.
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