Re: Comet dust brought back to Earth: paving the way for Rosetta (Forwarded)

Everybody seems to get excited about this event. I wonder if anyone
ever think that it may be a "pandora box"? Are there any precautions
to make sure that it does not contain toxic stuff or virus, or even a
black hole? What happens when they open it and it sucks everything on
earth?

Andrew Yee wrote:
> ESA News
> http://www.esa.int
>
> 12 January 2006
>
> Comet dust brought back to Earth: paving the way for Rosetta
>
> Scientists around the world eagerly await the arrival of sample
> particles from Comet Wild 2, which are being brought back to Earth by
> the US Stardust spacecraft on 15 January this year.
>
> The NASA Stardust mission was launched over seven years ago and has
> travelled several thousand millions of kilometres in deep space, chasing
> Comet Wild 2.
>
> In January 2004, the spacecraft encountered the comet to collect samples
> of particles ejected from its nucleus.
>
> This was achieved with a sample canister containing cells filled with
> 'Aerogel', an extremely lightweight, porous material based on silicon
> technology, ideal for slowing down the fast-moving dust particles and
> collecting them. These particles are moving at 'hypervelocities', i.e.
> speeds of up to seven kilometres per second.
>
> During the encounter with Wild 2, the canister was exposed to the
> cometary particles and then retracted inside the spacecraft and stored
> in its Sample Return Capsule. The spacecraft then began its two-year
> journey back to Earth to return carrying its precious cargo. Also a
> sample of interstellar dust was collected during the journey.
>
> When we want to understand the origin and evolution of the Solar System,
> comets are among the most informative of its inhabitants. They formed
> four and a half thousand million years ago and have remained almost
> unchanged since then.
>
> Studying them can provide important clues about the origin of the
> material out of which the Solar System formed, and could even help in
> understanding the origins of life on Earth.
>
> "Missions like Stardust provide not only valuable data by the first-ever
> study in terrestrial laboratories of particles ejected from a known
> comet and collected in the very close vicinity to it," said Gerhard
> Schwehm, ESA's Rosetta Project Scientist.
>
> "Results from such missions, which include ESA's Giotto spacecraft to
> Comet Halley in 1986, are also very important for the preparation and
> fine-tuning of the scientific investigations on future cometary
> missions, such as the European comet-chaser Rosetta."
>
> Launched in 2004, Rosetta is now travelling on a long route around the
> Sun to rendezvous with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 and deliver a
> lander onto its surface.
>
> With Stardust, scientists will have access to information about
> particles collected from the 'coma', the halo of dust and gas
> surrounding the comet tail.
>
> "These tiny particles, mostly micrometres in size, will be cut into even
> finer pieces and will be analysed with the very best instruments and at
> the highest level of detail for Earth-based labs," continued Schwehm.
>
> "With Rosetta, we will study the comet in situ in all its aspects -- the
> tail, the coma and even the surface, the comet 'mantle'. Instead of
> bringing the comet material to our laboratories, Rosetta will take the
> 'laboratory' to the comet.
>
> "In particular, our sophisticated suite of instruments will allow us not
> only to fully characterise the comet's particle content -- chemical
> composition and other physical properties -- but also the volatile
> content. This means we don't potentially lose any of these properties
> during a transport back to Earth," he adds.
>
> "However, thanks to Stardust, the analysis of coma particles on Earth
> will provide the whole scientific community with an unprecedented
> close-up view. For instance, the analysis of the 'isotopic ratio' of the
> elements in the dust grains (finding the percentage and the nature of
> 'decayed' atoms in the dust) gives important information about where and
> how this material was formed," concluded Schwehm.
>
> Notes to editors:
>
> Stardust is a mission in NASA's Discovery Programme of lower cost,
> highly focused Solar System investigations. It is a collaborative
> mission between NASA, universities and industry partners.
>
> Among its three dedicated science packages, the mission hosts a fully
> European experiment -- the Comet and Interstellar Dust Analyser (CIDA),
> built by the Max Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Germany.
>
> The purpose of the instrument, derived from the design of an instrument
> flown on ESA's Giotto mission and the Russian Vega spacecraft to Comet
> Halley, is to intercept cometary dust for a real-time preliminary
> analysis of its chemical composition.
>
> Another European contribution is provided by the Planetary and Space
> Science Research Institute of the Open University, UK. This includes the
> design and provision of sensors for the Dust Flux Monitoring instrument,
> dust coma modelling, development of sample extraction and
> characterisation techniques in Aerogel. This group also builds strongly
> on their experience gained in their involvement on the Giotto mission.
>
> Rosetta's main objective is to rendezvous with Comet
> 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will study the nucleus of the comet and
> its environment in great detail for a period of nearly two years, and
> land a probe on its surface. ESA's Rosetta will be the first mission
> ever to orbit and land on a comet.
>
> For further information please contact:
>
> Gerhard Schwehm, ESA Rosetta Project Scientist
> E-mail: gerhard.schwehm @ esa.int
>
> Michel van Baal, ESA/ESTEC Communications Office
> Tel: (office hours) +31 71 565 3006
> Tel: (weekend) +31 651 181 553
> E-mail: michel.van.baal @ esa.int
>
> More about...
>
> * ESA's comet chaser: Rosetta
> http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/index.html
> * Rosetta fact***
> http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMJUZS1VED_index_0.html
>
> Related articles
>
> * Evidence for more dust than ice in comets
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUSK5Y3EE_index_0.html
> * Life of a comet
> http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEM3NV0PGQD_0.html
> * Tempel 1: Biography of a comet
> http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMIUG0DU8E_0.html
> * Rosetta monitors Deep Impact
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMCOZ1DU8E_index_0.html
> * XMM-Newton to observe Deep Impact
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSZC2DU8E_index_0.html
> * Hubble sees outburst from Deep Impact comet
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSBN5DIAE_index_0.html
> * ESA observes Deep Impact from Earth
> http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMNRO5DIAE_0.html
> * Dust and gas from Comet 9P/Tempel 1 seen by ESA OGS
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQR06DIAE_index_0.html
> * Tempel 1 is weak X-ray source, XMM-Newton confirms
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMXA46DIAE_index_0.html
>
> Related links
>
> * NASA Stardust
> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/main/index.html
>
> IMAGE CAPTIONS:
>
> [Image 1:
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7G5MZCIE_index_1.html]
> This image of Comet Wild 2 was one of 72 taken with the navigation
> camera on NASA's Stardust spacecraft during its encounter with the comet
> between 31 December 2003 and 2 January 2004. The Wild 2 nucleus measures
> five kilometres wide.
>
> Credits: NASA
>
> [Image 2:
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7G5MZCIE_index_1.html#subhead1]
> Artist's impression of NASA's Stardust spacecraft
>
> Credits: NASA
>
> [Image 3:
> http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7G5MZCIE_index_1.html#subhead2]
> Rosetta's 11-year expedition began in February 2004, with an Ariane-5
> launch from Kourou in French Guiana. Rosetta will be the first
> spacecraft to orbit and land on a comet's nucleus.
>
> Credits: ESA/AOES Medialab

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