An artist's concept of the Stardust spacecraft, the fourth in NASA's series of Discovery missions. Stardust, which launches on February 7, 1999, will loop around the Sun twice, collect interstellar dust particles, then fly past the Comet Wild-2 in 2004. Stardust will capture samples of the comet's dust using a special silica gel called aerogel, a spongy, porous substance which will keep the specimens safely embedded for the return trip to Earth. The cargo will be stored in a capsule designed to separate from the spacecraft's main body and return to Earth in 2006, where it will parachute to a planned landing on a dry lake bed in Utah. The main spacecraft will continue in orbit around the Sun. The samples of comet dust will be studied by scientists, who hope to learn more about the beginnings of the Solar System. Viewed as the cosmic leftovers from planet formation, comets are rich in organic compounds and it's believed they may have played a key role in the development of life on Earth. As a Discovery mission, Stardust teams NASA with industry and universities to launch low-cost spacecraft with highly focused scientific goals in a short period of time. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Principal Investigator Dr. Don Brownlee of the University of Washington leads the team, while the spacecraft and sample return capsule are being built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, CO. This image and other background information can be found on the Stardust mission home page at http://stardust.jpl…#####
Description
An artist's concept of the Stardust spacecraft, the fourth in NASA's series of Discovery missions. Stardust, which launches on February 7, 1999, will loop around the Sun twice, collect interstellar dust particles, then fly past the Comet Wild-2 in 2004. Stardust will capture samples of the comet's dust using a special silica gel called aerogel, a spongy, porous substance which will keep the specimens safely embedded for the return trip to Earth. The cargo will be stored in a capsule designed to separate from the spacecraft's main body and return to Earth in 2006, where it will parachute to a planned landing on a dry lake bed in Utah. The main spacecraft will continue in orbit around the Sun. The samples of comet dust will be studied by scientists, who hope to learn more about the beginnings of the Solar System. Viewed as the cosmic leftovers from planet formation, comets are rich in organic compounds and it's believed they may have played a key role in the development of life on Earth. As a Discovery mission, Stardust teams NASA with industry and universities to launch low-cost spacecraft with highly focused scientific goals in a short period of time. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Principal Investigator Dr. Don Brownlee of the University of Washington leads the team, while the spacecraft and sample return capsule are being built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, CO. This image and other background information can be found on the Stardust mission home page at http://stardust.jpl…#####
