What is DUSTER?

Collecting cosmic dust in the upper stratosphere

Dust in the Upper Stratosphere Tracking Experiment and Retrieval (DUSTER) is an instrument that aims to collect uncontaminated solid aerosol particles from the Earth's stratosphere (30–40 km).
The main target of DUSTER is the collection of extraterrestrial dust: (sub-)micrometric particles originated from different bodies of the Solar System (and potentially even beyond).
Collecting extraterrestrial dust with DUSTER allows us to have unaltered (since not subjected to alteration processes) and uncontaminated (thanks to the DUSTER's collection system) samples of primitive bodies of the Solar System - a priceless reservoir for our labs.

The DUSTER project aims to fill the gaps in the efficiency of the collection of Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) in the atmosphere. The DUSTER project was conceived in 2006 by Alessandra Rotundi (Parthenope University of Naples) and Frans Rietmeijer (University of New Mexico) and the instrument was designed by Vincenzo Della Corte (Institute of Space Astrophysics and Planetology of Rome).