Re: ot We are stardust, says scientist as probe brings back clues to life

More at:

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Did you know you can volunteer to help evaluate the stardust captured in the
aerogel on your home computer?

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/01/10_dust.shtml

"William Wagner" <DieSpam__williamwag@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DieSpam__williamwag-219B15.19260915012006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1987749,00.html
>
>
>
>
>
> The Times
> January 16, 2006
>
> We are stardust, says scientist as probe brings back clues to life
> By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent
>
> A MILLION wisps of space dust that will illuminate the origins of the
> solar system and life on Earth were in the hands of scientists last
> night after the probe that collected them from the tail of a comet made
> a triumphant landing in the Utah desert.
> The Stardust capsule floated to Earth at 3.12am local time (10.10am GMT)
> yesterday, ending a six-year journey across almost three billion miles
> that will help to answer some of the most exciting questions in
> astronomy. The perfect touchdown brought cheers and applause from
> relieved researchers, who had watched anxiously as a fireball streaked
> across the night sky at 29,000mph (47,000kmh) < which was a record speed
> for a spacecraft re-entering the atmosphere.
>
>
> Many had feared that the probe might suffer the same fate as the Genesis
> mission to catch particles from the solar wind, which smashed apart on
> landing in 2004 after its parachutes failed to open.
> Though Stardust¹s descent system was similar to that of Genesis, there
> was no disaster this time: its drogue parachute deployed at 100,000ft
> (30,000m) and the main parachute opened five minutes later to guide it
> to a soft landing.
> ³Things went like clockwork,² said Tom Duxbury, of Nasa, the project
> manager. ³As soon as we saw the drogue chute open we knew we were home
> safe.²
> A helicopter recovery team found the capsule within half an hour of
> touchdown and transferred it to a special clean room at the Michael Army
> Air Field. Scientists were stowing it in a special aluminium case last
> night before shipping it to the Johnson Space Centre on Tuesday, where
> it will be opened.
> Inside are up to a million particles collected in January 2004, when
> Stardust flew through the tail of the Wild 2 comet. Because comets are
> icy remnants from the dawn of the solar system about 4.5 billion years
> ago, they are expected to reveal clues about how stars and planets are
> formed, and even about the beginnings of life. ³Comets are made out of
> the initial building blocks of our solar system,² said Don Brownlee, of
> the University of Washington, Stardust¹s chief scientist.
> ³We are stardust because our planet and even ourselves have a direct
> relation to the blocks we have brought back this morning.² Dr Brownlee
> said that his team had watched spellbound at the landing site at Dugway
> Proving Ground as the probe on which they had worked for ten years
> appeared as a falling fireball overhead.
> ³It was a reddish colour like a torch, that lasted about half a minute
> with a luminous trail behind it,² he said. ³It¹s ironic that a comet
> mission should end by producing a comet. It was an absolute thrill and
> inside this thing was our treasure.²
> The capsule¹s contents will be removed under sterile conditions, but
> that is to prevent contamination of the samples rather than as a
> quarantine measure.
> Comets contain the building blocks of life but as they fly through the
> extreme cold of the outer solar system and carry no liquid water,
> scientists think it nearly impossible that they could harbour biological
> material. Any return mission from a planet such as Mars, however, would
> be treated with more caution because there is a remote possibility that
> bacteria that may exist there could survive the trip to Earth.
> Once the particles have been removed, they will be distributed to more
> than 150 world scientists for six months of preliminary analysis.
> Matthew Genge, of Imperial College, London, said he could not wait to
> get his hands on the samples, adding: ³This has been the most exciting
> weekend for 30 years for planetary scientists.²
> ³It is the first time since the Apollo missions that samples of rock
> have been returned from space to Earth. This thousandth of a gram of
> dust from comet Wild 2 will probably tell us more about the formation of
> the solar system than the last 100 years of telescope observations. It
> is a great time to be into dust.²
> A three-billion-mile space odyssey
>
> Launched on February 7, 1999, from Cape Canaveral, Stardust has
> travelled nearly 3 billion miles
> On January 2, 2004, flies through tail of comet Wild 2, taking close-up
> pictures and collecting up to a million grains of dust from the tail
> The mother ship releases sample return capsule at 5.57am GMT yesterday.
> It enters atmosphere at 9.57am
>
> Capsule lands in Utah desert at 10.10am and is located in 30 minutes
> It will go to the Johnson Space Centre, Houston. Its contents will be
> shared with researchers around the world
>
> --
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