NASA, via Bloomberg News
Donald Brownlee, the Stardust mission's principal investigator, gave a victory sign while examining the particle collector on Tuesday in Houston.
Posted on 01/19/2006 10:36:07 PM PST by neverdem
The Stardust mission to bring back samples of comet and interstellar dust was more successful than they had hoped, scientists said yesterday.
The 100-pound sample container from the seven-year mission, which landed on the salt flats of Utah on Sunday, captured thousands of particles, perhaps even a million, that originated at the edge of the solar system or from distant stars, they said.
While they had expected mostly microscopic samples, the researchers said, a surprising number of the particles were large enough to be seen with the naked eye.
"It exceeded all of our grandest expectations," Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington said in a televised news conference from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the samples were taken for study.
The cargo in the Stardust's sample container, which was opened Tuesday, "was an ancient cosmic treasure from the very edge of the solar system," Dr. Brownlee said. Scientists believe that these particles are the pristine remains of the material that formed the planets and other bodies some 4.6 billion years ago.
The spacecraft flew with a 14-inch-wide collector that resembled a tennis racket and was filled with aerogel, a silicon material composed of 99.8 percent air. The aerogel gently slowed and trapped particles without significantly damaging them. When the particles hit the aerogel, they left tracks in the material.
Before the Stardust returned from its 2.9-billion-mile trek around the inner solar system, which included a close encounter with the comet Wild 2 near Jupiter on Jan. 2, 2004, Dr. Brownlee cautioned fellow researchers not to be disappointed if they did not see evidence of the particles with the naked eye, he said.
"The prediction was that we would get a dozen particles larger than human hair size and one particle a little bit larger than a millimeter,"...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping
LOL!
And it's just as tasty.
"a surprising number of the particles were large enough to be seen with the naked eye. "
That's impressive. I know there's a 'stardust@home' kind of program going on. I wonder if it'll really be needed? I believe it was under the assumption that it would be really hard to find particles.
That's really fantastic.
This is just too cool.
Cut to the future 3006:
Scientists found evidence today of what cause the mass extinction of the human race in the early part of the last millenium...
That title ("space dust") makes me think a Far Side cartoon would fit well. Some cleaning lady vacumming up all the dust and muttering something about "those messy scientists".
Speaking of "cleanliness" - I guess they're not concerned that anything bad might have been picked up that they could be affected by? Me? I think I'd be working through one of glass enclosures with the rubber arms! (Ignorant that I am of these things - although I guess if the cold of outerspace didn't kill any microbes the heat of re-entry would have!?).
As we gaze upon these particles, what is the first thing that comes to our mind? A billion dollars for dust particles that in our atmosphere would be considered airborne contamination.
OK space guys. So your quarters are bigger than ours and transparent. Big stinkin deal.
That is some STRANGE looking stuff! Which spurs two questions:
1. What does it feel like? Is it like a gel? If you touched it would you dent it, or is it resilient at all, or what?
2. How much does it cost to get a piece? :-)
Is this stuff for real? If so, where can I get my hands on some? I got some insulation ideas I wanna test out with it. Anyone int he know, please reply.
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