Raman microspectroscopy performed on extraterrestrial particles

Raman analyses have been performed on Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) collected in the lower stratosphere by NASA high-flying aircrafts, dust from comet 81P/Wild2 collected by Stardust mission, and three particles collected in the upper stratosphere by the balloon-borne DUSTER instrument. All samples contain amorphous carbon (aC) with different degrees of structural order. Fe oxides were detected in the IDPs, aliphatic chains were found in comet grains, and three particles collected in the upper stratosphere are calcium carbonate (calcite or aragonite). Raman spectroscopy is a valuable tool for the nondestructive analyses of micrometer-scale constituents of complex natural materials.