Primordial comet dust to drop to Earth in January (spaceship Stardust nears end of mission)

Reuters on Yahoo | 12/22/05 | Deborah Zabarenko

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sample of comet dust, collected by a robotic space probe with what looks a bit like a big tennis racket, is scheduled to parachute down to Earth next month, NASA scientists said on Wednesday.

The spaceship Stardust is coming to the end of its seven-year, 2.9 billion mile round-trip mission to fly by comet Wild 2, catching dust that could give astronomers clues about how the planets formed some 4.5 billion years ago.

The ship will remain in space but a 101-pound (46 kilogram) capsule loaded with dust culled from the comet is expected to land at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range at 5:12 a.m. EST (1012 GMT), or 3:12 a.m. local time on January 15, 2006.

If the night is clear, the Stardust capsule's descent should be visible from northern California to Oregon, scientists said at a briefing at NASA headquarters.

"This comet formed at very edge of the solar system ... out by pluto ... and spent all its lifetime out there until recently it came into the inner part of the solar system, where we could sample it," said Don Brownlee, the principal investigator on the project.

Stardust went halfway to Jupipter to get close to Wild 2, catching hundreds of comet dust particles in a collector that looks something like a large tennis racket with a round metal ice cube tray where the strings would be.

Inside the collector's ice-cube-size compartments is a material called aerogel, a low-density substance that is 99.9 percent air, which acted to capture grains of dust emitted by the comet.

Stardust's collector got within 147 miles of Wild 2, close enough to be bombarded by millions of cometary particles, and to catch hundreds of them.

Comets are thought to be the remnants of planet formation, made up of cosmic dust and ice. Comet collisions may have helped seed Earth with water, a prerequisite for life.

NASA officials stressed the Stardust capsule is extremely rugged and said they have prepared for the possibility of a hard landing so the samples will not be damaged before they can be studied.

A previous NASA probe called Genesis crashed to Earth in 2004 when its parachute failed to open. That craft had been on a three-year mission to collect solar ions, which were recovered by scientists even though the spacecraft was destroyed.

[NormsRevenge]

The spaceship Stardust is pictured in this artist's rendering. A sample of comet dust, collected by the Stardust with what looks a bit like a big tennis racket (top-left), is scheduled to parachute down to earth next month, NASA scientists said on December 21, 2005. The spaceship is coming to the end of its seven-year, 2.9 billion mile (4.8 billion km) round-trip mission to fly by comet Wild 2, catching dust that could give astronomers clues about how the planets formed some 4.5 billion years ago. NO SALES EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/NASA/Handout

[NormsRevenge]

... a 101-pound (46 kilogram) capsule loaded with dust culled from the comet is expected to land at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range at 5:12 a.m. EST (1012 GMT), or 3:12 a.m. local time on January 15, 2006.

[Gondring]

Wow...I thought this day would never come!

[NormsRevenge]

Remember Genesis?

[NormsRevenge]

The target, Wild 2

[Army Air Corps]

Remember, the antidote is Sterno...

[BenLurkin]

The scientists are ready I trust . . .

[LdSentinal]

The Andromeda Strain . . .

[NormsRevenge]

Stardust mission web site at NASA

[robertpaulsen]

"We are stardust, we are golden
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden."
-- Woodstock, Crosby Stills Nash and Young

[Arthalion]

Ah yes. I seem to remember that it ended up being a human screwup that brought it down. One of the sensors was installed backwards or something.

Let's hope the Genesis team didn't have anything to do with this one.

[vic ryan]

I have no idea how much this project cost but I'm guessing it was more than I paid in taxes last year. Let's assume this project is a rousing success, however that might be judged. Exactly how am I going to benefit from my hard earned tax dollars which were taken from me by threat of imprisonment or worse.

For half of what these experts spent I would be more than happy to tell them how the earth was formed. In fact I'll even furnish them a book telling all about it.

[The SISU kid]

The scientists are ready I trust . .

My thoughts exactly....BTW I just finished reading The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton author of (as you already know) The Andromeda Strain

Considering it was written in the late 60's/early70's it held up well....

[Buck W.]

Ha!
BTW--I heard that an Andromeda remake is in the works...

[taxesareforever]

I bet that when they open the container it goes "psst".

[Army Air Corps]

"BTW--I heard that an Andromeda remake is in the works..."

That would be interesting...

"Give the kid squeeze..."

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

The spaceship Stardust is coming to the end of its seven-year, 2.9 billion mile round-trip mission to fly by comet Wild 2, catching dust that could give astronomers clues about how the planets formed some 4.5 billion years ago.

Why spend billions of dollars on a question that can be answered within ten posts on a Free Republic Creationism thread?

[the lone wolf]

From the probe's website--

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/dec/HQ_05562_Stardust_update.html






Dwayne Brown/Merrilee Fellows
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1726; (818) 393-0754

D.C. Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(818) 393-9011


Dec. 21, 2005
RELEASE: 05-562


NASA Prepares for Return of Interstellar Cargo

NASA's Stardust mission is nearing Earth after a 2.88 billion mile round-trip journey to return cometary and interstellar dust particles back to Earth. Scientists believe the cargo will help provide answers to fundamental questions about comets and the origins of the solar system.

The velocity of the sample return capsule, as it enters the Earth's atmosphere at 28,860 mph, will be the fastest of any human-made object on record. It surpasses the record set in May 1969 during the return of the Apollo 10 command module. The capsule is scheduled to return on Jan. 15.

"Comets are some of the most informative occupants of the solar system. The more we can learn from science exploration missions like Stardust, the more we can prepare for human exploration to the moon, Mars and beyond," said Mary Cleave, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Several events must occur before scientists can retrieve cosmic samples from the capsule landing at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range, southwest of Salt Lake City. Mission navigators will command the spacecraft to perform targeting maneuvers on Jan. 5 and 13. On Jan. 15 at 12:57 a.m. EST, Stardust will release its sample return capsule. Four hours later, the capsule will enter Earth's atmosphere 410,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean.

The capsule will release a drogue parachute at approximately 105,000 feet. Once the capsule has descended to about 10,000 feet, the main parachute will deploy. The capsule is scheduled to land on the range at 5:12 a.m. EST.

After the capsule lands, if conditions allow, a helicopter crew will fly it to the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, for initial processing. If weather does not allow helicopters to fly, special off-road vehicles will retrieve the capsule and return it to Dugway. Samples will be moved to a special laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, where they will be preserved and studied.

"Locked within the cometary particles is unique chemical and physical information that could be the record of the formation of the planets and the materials from which they were made," said Don Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator at the University of Washington, Seattle.

NASA expects most of the collected particles to be no more than a third of a millimeter across. Scientists will slice these particle samples into even smaller pieces for study.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. manages the Stardust mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft.

For information about the Stardust mission on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/stardust

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/podcast

[RightWhale]

Brownlee is getting a little tense about the landing. A little mission and no attention for some reason, but it has set several records.