Mem. S.A.It. Suppl. Vol. 16, 14 c  SAIt 2011 Memorie della Supplementi V. Della Corte 1 , P. Palumbo 1 , S. De Angelis 1,2 , A. Ciucci 1,2 , R. Brunetto 1,3 , A. Rotundi 1 , F.J.M. Rietmeijer 4 , E. Zona 1 , E. Bussoletti 1 , L. Colangeli 5 , F. Esposito 6 , E. Mazzotta Epifani 6 , V. Mennella 6 , S. Peterzen 7 , S. Masi 8 , and R. Ibba 9 1 Dip Scienze Applicate, Universit` a di Napoli ’Parthenope’, Centro Direzionale 80143 Napoli, Italy. e-mail: v.dellacorte@gmail.com 2 Dipartimento Ingegneria Aerospaziale, Universit` a di Napoli Federico II 80143 Napoli, Italy. 3 European Space Astronomy Centre, 28691 Villanueva de la Ca˜ nada, Madrid, Spain 4 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1116, USA 5 Solar System Division, Research and Scientific Support Department, European Space Agency, ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, PO Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk ZH, The Netherlands 6 INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte 80131 Napoli, Italy 7 ISTAR (International Science Technology And Research) Pagosa Springs, Colorado USA 8 Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit` a La Sapienza, 00100 Roma, Italy 9 ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), Abstract. The DUSTER (Dust in the Upper Stratosphere Tracking Experiment and Retrieval) project is aimed at uncontaminated collection and retrieval of stratospheric solid aerosol particles, in the submicron/micron range, from the upper stratosphere. The approach implies: (1) in-situ particles collection; (2) sample recovering; and (3) laboratory analyses. The scientific aim is deriving the dust size distribution, the concentration, chemistry and mineralogy of the collected stratospheric aerosols. The main characteristics of the instru- ment are: (1) Capability of working autonomously during balloon flight at 30 − 40 km altitude, temperatures down to −80 ◦ C; (2) sampling at least 20 m 3 of air to collect several hundreds of aerosol particles); (3) Samples storage and retrieval under controlled condi- tions. A detailed description of the experiment is reported here. Key words. Interplanetary dust – Stratospheric aerosol collection - balloon-borne Send offprint requests to: V. Della Corte 1. Introduction Stratospheric aerosols of grains with ir- regular shapes, variable sizes and chemi-