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Abstract

Understanding the history and evolution of small bodies, such as dust grains and comets, in planet-forming disks is very important to reveal the architectural laws responsible for the creation of planetary systems. These small bodies in cold regions of the disks are typically considered to be mixtures of dust particles with molecular ices, where ices cover the surface of a dust core or are actually physically mixed with dust. While the first case, ice-on-dust, has been intensively studied in the laboratory in recent decades, the second case, ice-mixed- with-dust, presents uncharted territory. This work is the first laboratory study of the temperature-programmed desorption of water ice mixed with amorphous carbon and silicate grains. We show that the kinetics of desorption of H₂O ice depends strongly on the dust/ice mass ratio, probably due to the desorption of water molecules from a large surface of fractal clusters composed of carbon or silicate grains. In addition, it is shown that water ice molecules are differently bound to silicate grains in contrast to carbon. The results provide a link between the structure and morphology of small cosmic bodies and the kinetics of desorption of water ice included in them.