14

Otto Berg's Jupiter-C Cosmic Dust Detector Flight Spare

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,000.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Otto Berg's Jupiter-C Cosmic Dust Detector Flight Spare

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2022 Dec 15 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Otto Berg's flight spare of a cosmic dust detector experiment built for Wernher von Braun's Jupiter-C research and development launch vehicle, identical to the unit actually carried as part of the experiments package on a Jupiter-C launch. The device measures approximately 7˝ in diameter and 10.5˝ long, and features a mirrored circular sensor at one end, with electrical connector ports at the other. The sensor features three layers of material—two titanium layers separated and insulated by a silicon oxide layer—upon a quartz cone, each layer being about one-millionth of an inch thick. There is voltage between the two conducting layers and when a particle of cosmic dust—whizzing through space at 40,000 miles per hour—hits the surface, it momentarily causes a short in the circuit and initiates a signal. The housing of this spare unit is marked in black ink, "#2." In fine condition. Berg holds the patent for this type of 'capacitor sensor' (U.S. Patent No. 3,307,407), and the system formed the basis for the Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites (LEAM) experiment deployed on the lunar surface on Apollo 17, as well as for cosmic dust sensors on the Pioneer 8 and Pioneer 9 sun-orbiting space probes.