The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies

High-resolution strain mapping through time-of-flight neutron transmission diffraction

The spatial resolution of time of flight neutron transmission diffraction was recently improved by the extension of photon/electron counting technology to imaging of thermal and cold neutrons. The development of novel neutron sensitive microchannel plates enables neutron counting with spatial resolution of ~55 um and time-of-flight accuracy of ~1 us, with efficiency as high as 70% for cold and ~40% for thermal neutrons. The combination of such a high resolution detector with a pulsed collimated neuron beam provides the opportunity to obtain a 2-dimensional map of neutron transmission spectra in one measurement. The results of our neuron transmission measurements demonstrate that maps of strains integrated along the beam propagation direction can be obtained with ~100 microstrain accuracy and spatial resolution of ~100 um providing there are sufficient neutron events collected. In this paper we describe the capabilities of the MCP neutron counting detectors and present the experimental results of 2-dimensional strain maps within austenitic steel compact tension (CT) crack samples measured at the ENGIN-X beamline of the ISIS pulsed neutron source. © 2014, Trans Tech Publications