The Stardust machine, designed and assembled at the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), replicates the physical conditions of AGB star photospheres to produce and analyze dust grain analogs under ultra-high-vacuum conditions up to 10⁻¹¹ mbar. It comprises six modules: the MICS chamber for nanoparticle formation via atomic aggregation; the DIAGNOSIS chamber for separating neutrals from ions; ACCELERATION and OVEN modules to simulate radiation pressure and temperate near the star; the INFRA-ICE chamber for spectroscopic analysis and studying ice analogs; and the ANA chamber for in-situ nanoparticle analysis using techniques like XPS and TPD.
