Introduction: In 2006, NASA’s Stardust mission returned a capsule to Earth with particles collected from the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2. Cometary particles were collected by impact into low-density silica aerogel at a relative velocity of 6.1 km/s [1]. Upon impacting the aerogel, particles left behind tracks of melted and compressed aerogel and void space, shedding material along the way. In orde...