DUSTER (Dust in the Upper Stratosphere Tracking Experiment and Return):. a balloon-borne dust particle collector

The DUSTER (Dust in the Upper Stratosphere Tracking Experiment and Retrieval) project is aimed at uncontaminated collection and retrieval of stratospheric solid aerosol particles, in the submicron/micron range, from the upper stratosphere. The approach implies: (1) in-situ particles collection; (2) sample recovering; and (3) laboratory analyses. The scientific aim is deriving the dust size distribution, the concentration, chemistry and mineralogy of the collected stratospheric aerosols. The main characteristics of the instru- ment are: (1) Capability of working autonomously during balloon flight at 30 − 40 km altitude, temperatures down to −80◦C; (2) sampling at least 20 m3 of air to collect several hundreds of aerosol particles); (3) Samples storage and retrieval under controlled condi- tions. A detailed description of the experiment is reported here