Re: NASA's Stardust Passes Moon, Just Hours Away From Earth Return

If the Stardust samples are retrieved successfully, would a mission
like this old proposal be worth a second look?

http://www.astrobiology.com:16080/europa/ice.clipper.html

It sounds like a cross between Stardust and Deep Impact, but with
Europa as the subject body. It might be a viable alternative for
Europa given the past difficulty developing a mission to orbit Europa.
It sounds like it could work for getting close flyby pictures and
samples returned from asteroids, moons, etc. However, I'm not an
spacecraft engineer, so these are just my amateur impressions.

I have to agree that the Pluto mission probably has more appeal to the
public than Stardust. The public likes pictures (I think - at least I
do), and Stardust took its pictures a long time ago. Stardust@home
might generate more public involvement and interest with the mission
after the actual landing, depending on how many people participate:

http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Hmmmmm, reality TV, or stardust@home ....... they may have a better
chance at getting lots of participation than one might think ...

red

.

Relevant Pages

  • NASAs Comet Tale Draws to a Successful Close in Utah Desert
    ... Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. ... NASA's Stardust sample return mission returned safely to Earth ... Mountain time) in the desert salt flats of the U.S. Air Force ...
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  • NASAs Venerable Comet Hunter Wraps Up Mission (Stardust)
    ... NASA's Venerable Comet Hunter Wraps Up Mission ... "Stardust motors burned for 146 seconds," said Allan Cheuvront, Lockheed ... Martin Space Systems Company program manager for Stardust-NExT. ...
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  • NASA Prepares for Return of Interstellar Cargo (Stardust)
    ... NASA PREPARES FOR RETURN OF INTERSTELLAR CARGO ... The velocity of the sample return capsule, ... Stardust, the more we can prepare for human exploration to the moon, ... NASA's Science Mission Directorate. ...
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  • Stardust Update - January 30, 2006
    ... Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. ... Stardust Mission Status Report ... NASA's Stardust spacecraft was placed into hibernation mode ...
    (sci.space.news)
  • Stardust Logs A Decade Under The Stars
    ... Stardust Logs A Decade Under The Stars ... kilometers of comet Wild 2 in January 2004. ... the capsule was transported to a curatorial facility at NASA's Johnson ... With its prime mission complete, ...
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