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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Stardust Capsule Headed For Utah Landing

NASA’s Stardust spacecraft is en route to Earth, a time capsule carrying the fundamental building blocks of our solar system when it formed billions of years ago. Next month, the spacecraft is to eject to Earth a capsule filled with particles of interstellar and comet dust.

The spacecraft has soared through space for some seven years, chalking up billions of travel miles. During the probe’s collection route, Stardust caught particles cast off comet Wild 2 in 2004.

Those particles are now safely tucked inside Stardust’s sample return capsule, headed for an early morning January 15 landing within U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground southwest of Salt Lake City.

The $212 million Stardust mission was launched on February 7, 1999 by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, part of NASA’s Discovery Program of econo-class, highly focused science investigations. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver and is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

More here: www.space.com/missionlaunches/051221_stardust_update.html

Star Dust Mission site: stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/index.html
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Let's hope it lands successfully without a thud.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

NASA Stardust Mission Status Report

Thursday, January 5, 2006
Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory



Ten days before its historic return to Earth with the first-ever samples from a comet, NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully performed its 18th flight path adjustment. This second-to-last scheduled maneuver puts the spacecraft on the right path to rendezvous with Earth on Jan. 15 (Universal Time), when it will release its sample return capsule.

At 1800 Universal Time (10:00 am Pacific Time) on Thursday, Jan. 5, Stardust fired all eight of its 4.4 newton (1-pound) thrusters for a total of 107 seconds, changing the comet sampler's speed by 2.4 meters per second (about 5.4 miles per hour). The maneuver required 385 grams (0.85 pounds) of hydrazine monopropellant to complete. A final trajectory correction maneuver is scheduled prior to release of the sample return capsule.

"It was a textbook maneuver," said Ed Hirst, Stardust deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "After sifting through all the post-burn data, I expect we will find ourselves right on the money."

In the early morning hours of January 15, 2006, the Stardust mission returns to Earth after a 4.63 billion kilometer (2.88 billion mile) round-trip journey carrying a precious cargo of cometary and interstellar dust particles. Scientists believe Stardust's cargo will help provide answers to fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system.

Full up to date story here: www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19189

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Let's hope for a successful re-entry of the comet dust!...

[Maddad]

I wonder what conclusions we'll be able to make from analyzing those samples. It won't be any time soon that we know.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Public to look for dust grains in Stardust detectors

Astronomy buffs who jumped at the chance to use their home computers in the SETI@home search for intelligent life in the universe will soon be able to join an Internet-based search for dust grains originating from stars millions of light years away.

In a new project called Stardust@home, University of California, Berkeley, researchers will invite Internet users to help them search for a few dozen submicroscopic grains of interstellar dust captured by NASA's Stardust spacecraft and due to return to Earth in January 2006.

Though Stardust's main mission was to capture dust from the tail of comet Wild 2 - dust dating from the origins of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago - it also captured a sprinkling of dust from distant stars, perhaps created in supernova explosions less than 10 million years ago.

"These will be the very first contemporary interstellar dust grains ever brought back to Earth for study," said Andrew Westphal, a UC Berkeley senior fellow and associate director of the campus's Space Sciences Laboratory who developed the technique NASA will use to digitally scan the aerogel in which the interstellar dust grains are embedded. "Stardust is not only the first mission to return samples from a comet, it is the first sample return mission from the galaxy."

"Like SETI@home, which is the world's largest computer, we hope Stardust@home will also be a large computer, though more of a neural network, using brains together to find these grains," said Bryan Mendez of the Center for Science Education at the Space Sciences Laboratory. Mendez and Nahide Craig, assistant research astronomer at the laboratory, plan to create K-12 curricula around the Stardust@home project and to reach out to local astronomy groups to boost participation.

Full story here:http://www.physorg.com/news9742.html

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This should be an entertaining involvement for those of us willing to lend a hand...or computer cycle...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

NASA Probe to Light the Skies on Jan. 15 Re-entry

When the Stardust sample return capsule nose dives back to Earth in January, it will become the fastest human-made object to streak through the atmosphere. Scientists and engineers are at the ready to observe the spectacular sky show—and savvy skywatchers can join in on the aerial action too.

If all goes to plan, Stardust will release its sample return capsule carrying comet and interstellar dust particles on Jan. 15 at 12:57 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Four hours later, the capsule will enter Earth's atmosphere, zooming toward Utah and a parachute landing at roughly 5:12 a.m. EST.

So if you live in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Northern Nevada, Southern Idaho or Western Utah you should be able to see some part of Stardust sky show. The closer you live to the trajectory, which runs from Crescent City, California and then through Winnemucca and Elko Nevada, and finally to Western Utah, the higher the fireworks in the early morning sky will be.

Full story here: www.space.com/missionlaunches/051226_stardust_watch.html

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Any of our Western state members prepping to catch it?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Stardust's Final Hours

Utah Test and Training Range UT (SPX) Jan 13, 2006
The last few hours of the Stardust mission will be filled with significant milestones. On Jan. 14 at 11:23 pm EST mission controllers will command the spacecraft to begin the computer-controlled sequence that will release the sample return capsule.
On Jan. 15 at 12:56 am EST the Stardust spacecraft will complete the sequence by severing the umbilical cables between spacecraft and capsule. One minute later, springs aboard the spacecraft will literally push the capsule away. Fifteen minutes after release – while the sample return capsule continues its trajectory towards the Utah Test and Training Range, the Stardust spacecraft will perform a maneuver to place it in orbit around the Sun.

At 4:57 am EST, four hours after being released by the Stardust spacecraft, the capsule will enter Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 125 kilometers (410,000 feet) over Northern Calif.

At this point it will be 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) east of the coast and 22 kilometers (13.67 miles) south of the Oregon-California border. The velocity of the sample return capsule as it enters Earth's atmosphere at 46,440 kilometers per hour (28,860 miles per hour) will be the greatest of any human-made object on record. This will surpass the record set in May 1969 during the return of the Apollo 10 command module.

The capsule will release a drogue parachute at an altitude of approximately 32 kilometers (105,000 feet). Once the capsule has descended to an altitude of about 3 kilometers (10,000 feet) at 5:05 a.m. EST, the main parachute will deploy. The capsule is scheduled to land on the salt flats of the Utah Test and Training Range at 5:12 a.m. EST.

If weather conditions allow, the recovery team will be flown by helicopter to recover the capsule and 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 be used to transport the recovery team to retrieve the capsule and return it to Dugway.

The collector grid with cometary and interstellar samples will be moved to a special laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, where they will be preserved and studied by scientists.


Story here: www.spacedaily.com/news/Stardusts_Final_Hours.html
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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

StarDust Mission like "The Andromeda Strain"?

This mission has a strong parallel to a good movie of 1971. I remember watching the "Andromeda Strain" as a kid and really enjoying the science and potential behind it.

In 'The Andromeda Strain', the military put up a
spacecraft to collect dust and samples in the hopes of getting some sort of biological warfare agent. They succeeded when they captured the microorganism.

Somebody spray the re-entry capsule with Lysoil!...

[Maddad]

At 46,4440 KPH it will make quite a thud if it fails to deploy its shoe brakes.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

StarDust Observed at 160,000 Km

The University of Alabama captured StarDust from their telescope using CCD imagery. The following excerpt from their page:

University of Alabama Astronomy - The Return of Stardust

We are using the UA campus observatory's 0.4-meter telescope and CCD imaging system. If conditions permit, we should be able to follow the incoming spacecraft telescopicaly from about 1800-2230 CST (0000-0430 UT).

We are using the UA campus observatory's 0.4-meter telescope and CCD imaging system. By tracking the telescope to follow Stardust's motion across the sky, we just barely recorded the 18th-magnitude spacecraft shortly before 10 p.m., at a range of about 160,000 km.

More here: www.astr.ua.edu/keel/stardust/

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Here's a closeup of Comet Wild and the origin of the comet dust that the StarDust Mission has possibly collected:

As I post this, the re-entry pod should by streaking through Western skies, and hopfully...a soft landing...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

NASA's Stardust Probe In 'Excellent' Condition After Return To Earth

[/b][/center]The US space probe "Stardust" was in superb condition after returning to Earth Sunday carrying precious dust from stars and comets, according to mission officials.
The 46-kilogram (101-pound) capsule was in "absolute excellent condition" after landing in the Utah desert, ending a seven-year journey across billions of kilometers (miles) in space, said Joe Vellinga, the Stardust program manager for US aeronautics firm Lockheed Martin.

Launched in 1999, Stardust collected the samples in the first attempt to gather, beyond the Moon, space particles that date back to before our solar system was born, or about 4.5 billion years ago.

Stardust Safely Home!

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jan 16, 2006
The Stardust sample return capsule gently landed in the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range this morning at 3:10 a.m. Mountain time. Other than a little mud on its nose, the capsule appeared to be in excellent shape. A helicopter crew collected the capsule and brought it to a clean room at the nearby Michael Army Airfield. The capsule and its precious cargo are now being prepared for shipment to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The capsule contains interstellar dust and samples of the comet Wild 2. The Stardust spacecraft passed within 150 miles of Wild 2's nucleus to collect particles streaming off the comet.

There was some concern that the sample return capsule's parachutes would not work properly because they were similar in design to the parachutes for the Genesis mission. Genesis crashed into the Utah desert in 2004 when its parachutes failed to deploy. But Stardust encountered no problems; both its drogue and main parachute opened on schedule.

While the sample return capsule parachuted down to Earth, the Stardust spacecraft continued in its orbit around the sun. Although the spacecraft doesn't have another dust collector onboard, it has instruments that would allow it to study other comets -- a camera, a mass spectrometer to provide chemical analysis, and a dust counter to determine the particle size and spatial distribution of dust around a comet. In addition, the spacecraft still has 17 kilograms of propellant. "This spacecraft is a comet explorer," said Duxbury. "It has the tools to do a lot more."

Painstaking analysis could take scientists as long as 10 years. The work, according to one scientist, could be compared to finding 45 ants on a football field, or studying five square centimeters (0.8 square inches) of earth at a time.

To help the researchers, the University of California, Berkeley, has launched a drive to recruit 30,000 volunteer students, who will have access to a powerful microscope via the Internet.

The Stardust probe, weighing 385 kilograms (849 pounds), was launched in 1999, circled the Sun twice and then flew by comet Wild 2 in January 2004, which at the time was located next to Jupiter.

Although comet Wild 2 now moves between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, it formed in the Kuiper Belt on the outskirts of the solar system. Scientists think the Kuiper Belt is a remnant of the solar system's original building blocks. The comet spent most of its lifetime in this cold outer region and therefore preserved most of its dust and gases.

NASA described the capsule's entry speed -- at 46,444 kilometers per hour (28,860 miles per hour) -- as the fastest ever of any human-made object, topping the record set in May 1969 by the returning Apollo 10 command module.

More here: www.spacedaily.com/news/NASAs_Stardust_Probe_In_Excellent_Condition_After_Return_To_Earth.html

www.spacedaily.com/news/US_Probe_Stardust_Safely_Returns_To_Earth_With_Precious_Samples.html

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Excellent, just excellent on the successful return of the StarDust probe!... ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

This from Shari Summers, a fellow Adler Planetarium volunteer...

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With a picture perfect landing in the Arizona desert, Stardust completed its journey begun in 1999. The capsule will be opened in a "clean room"on Tuesday January 17, 2006 after travelling over 3 billion miles to collect cometary material from Comet WILD 2. This is fantastic news and opens up an enthusiastic new era in space study. By using aerogel, the piano-sized sattelite collected space material, cometary material and space interstellar dust. If you have any budding student astronomers, or if you are interesed in assisting in the quest, you are invited to assist in noting and recording the collection of interstellar material. Register at:

stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/participation.html

If you choose to help us in this exciting search, this is the information you need:

First, you will go through a web-based training session. This is not for everyone: you must pass a test to qualify to register to participate. After passing the test and registering, you will be able to download a virtual microscope (VM). The VM will automatically connect to our server and download so-called "focus movies" -- stacks of images that we will collect from the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector using an automated microscope at the Cosmic Dust Lab at Johnson Space Center. The VM will work on your computer, under your control. You will search each field for interstellar dust impacts by focusing up and down with a focus control.

The more focus movies you examine, the better the chances are that you'll find an interstellar dust grain. But we have no minimum expectation -- you should search through focus movies as long as you're having fun doing it. Just remember that you are looking at the first collector that has gone into deep space and come back. This is a very special opportunity!

Stardust Timeline
Past Milestones Upcoming Events
7 Feb 1999 Stardust successfully launched
Feb-May 2000 First IS dust collection
Aug-Dec 2002 Second IS dust collection
2 Jan 2004 Stardust successfully passes through comet Wild-2
15 Jan 2006 Stardust recovery
15 Feb 2006 Begin scanning Stardust IS dust collector
1 Mar 2006 First image data available for searching
1 Oct 2006 Estimated completion date of search


Solarly yours,

Shari Summers-Lavelli, SSA
Solar System Amabassador, (IL)
JPL Educational Outreach Program

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Thanks for the info Shari and it would be an interesting to participate in locating tiny bits of comet debris.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Elated Scientists Say Space-Dust Mission Exceeded Expectations

The Stardust mission to bring back samples of comet and interstellar dust was more successful than they had hoped, scientists said yesterday.

The 100-pound sample container from the seven-year mission, which landed on the salt flats of Utah on Sunday, captured thousands of particles, perhaps even a million, that originated at the edge of the solar system or from distant stars, they said.

While they had expected mostly microscopic samples, the researchers said, a surprising number of the particles were large enough to be seen with the naked eye.

"It exceeded all of our grandest expectations," Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington said in a televised news conference from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the samples were taken for study.

The cargo in the Stardust's sample container, which was opened Tuesday, "was an ancient cosmic treasure from the very edge of the solar system," Dr. Brownlee said. Scientists believe that these particles are the pristine remains of the material that formed the planets and other bodies some 4.6 billion years ago.

The spacecraft flew with a 14-inch-wide collector that resembled a tennis racket and was filled with aerogel, a silicon material composed of 99.8 percent air. The aerogel gently slowed and trapped particles without significantly damaging them. When the particles hit the aerogel, they left tracks in the material.

Before the Stardust returned from its 2.9-billion-mile trek around the inner solar system, which included a close encounter with the comet Wild 2 near Jupiter on Jan. 2, 2004, Dr. Brownlee cautioned fellow researchers not to be disappointed if they did not see evidence of the particles with the naked eye, he said.

"The prediction was that we would get a dozen particles larger than human hair size and one particle a little bit larger than a millimeter," Dr. Brownlee said.

"We were totally overwhelmed by the ability to actually see this stuff so straightforwardly," he said. "Just looking at it, you can see hundreds and hundreds of tracks."

At least one of the tracks is large enough to insert a small finger, he added.

Dr. Brownlee said some of the tracks in the aerogel might have been left by ice particles that later evaporated. If such cavities are found, he said, they may contain residue of the ice and its constituents.

"If a sample hit the aerogel, it's still there in some form," he said.

On its journey, the Stardust also spent 195 days collecting particles flowing through the solar system from stars far out in space. Scientists said there appeared to be hundreds of samples of these particles.

Dr. Brownlee said the $212 million cost of the 10-year Stardust project was a bargain considering the amount of knowledge it should provide about the origins of the solar system and Earth.

Story here: www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/science/space/20stardust.html?ex=1295413200&en=3d2b662a1d3efeac&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

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An excellent mission and well worth it... ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Stardust Collection Trays are Full of Particles

(Sat, 21 Jan 2006) When NASA scientists first cracked open Stardust's return capsule, they weren't sure what they were going to see; lots of cometary particles or just a few? The results have exceeded everyone's expectations. The scientists estimate they have up to a million cometary particles in the aerogel collection trays, with several as large as the width of a human hair. NASA's Johnson Space Center will begin distributing particles to more than 150 researchers worldwide within the next week.

The holes are carrot-shaped, with a large entry hole that tapers to a point. The first photograph of a cometary particle shows it residing in the very tip of the tunnel it drilled, like the dot of an exclamation point. The particle is only 11 microns across, and appears to be a transparent mineral grain.

More here: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/investigate_stardust.html?2112006

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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Stardust Placed Into Hibernation

(Tue, 31 Jan 2006) Having successfully delivered its fragile payload of comet and interstellar dust samples, Stardust is a spaceship without a purpose. This week, NASA controllers sent a series of commands that put the ship into a hibernation mode. With every system turned off, except it solar arrays and receive antenna, Stardust should be able to remain in good health for years. NASA is considering future missions they could give the spacecraft.

"We sang our spacecraft to sleep today with a melody of digital ones and zeros," said Tom Duxbury, Stardust project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Stardust has performed flawlessly these last seven years and 2.88 billion miles and deserves a rest for a while, like the rest of the team."

The "song" was actually a series of commands that was sent up to the spacecraft yesterday, Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. Pacific time (7 p.m. Eastern time). The commands deactivated all but a few essential systems, such as Stardust's solar arrays and receive antenna - which will remain powered on. This long-term hibernation state could allow for almost indefinite (tens of years) out-of-contact operations while maintaining the spacecraft health.

The Stardust spacecraft is currently in an orbit that travels from a little closer to the Sun than that of the Earth to well beyond the orbit of Mars. It will next fly past Earth on January 14, 2009, at a distance of about 1 million kilometers (621,300 miles).

Story here: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/stardust_hibernation.html?3112006

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I guess it could be used as a sentry of sorts I assume.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

New Image Shows Speck Of Comet Dust From NASA Mission

Berkeley CA (SPX) Feb 3, 2006
This NASA photo shows a mote of comet dust embedded in a tiny wedge of aerogel. It was extracted from the Stardust spacecraft's collectors that returned to Earth Jan. 15. The comet dust was extracted by Christopher Snead, a University of California, Berkeley, researcher using new techniques called nanomanipulation that were developed at the university's Space Sciences Laboratory.
The dust particle entered the aerogel from the lower right at supersonic speed and moved to the upper left, where it can be seen as a bright dot at the end of the carrot-shaped trail. The large oval cavity at lower right was blown out by shock waves created as the grain exceeded the sound barrier in the aerogel. At right is a micromachined fixture developed by UC Berkeley physicists, in collaboration with Chris Keller, of MEMS Precision Instruments, to extract grains of comet and interstellar dust from the detectors.

A team led by UC Berkeley research physicist Andrew Westphal also developed the device – a glass needle attached to a robotically-controlled micromanipulator – to cut out the wedge-shaped piece of aerogel from a larger aerogel tile.

The aerogel-embedded comet grain, still in the clean room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, will be distributed to researchers for study. The trail is about 1 millimeter long, while the dust grain is only 10 microns across, or one-tenth the diameter of a human hair.


Story here: www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_Image_Shows_Speck_Of_Comet_Dust_From_NASA_Mission.html

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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Stardust's Samples Under Analysis

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 - Scientists at the University of Chicago have received their first samples of cometary dust from NASA's Stardust mission, which returned back to Earth in mid-January. The samples consist of several thin slices of a single dust grain, as well as a larger piece which can be sliced up even finer. Mission scientists believe that the spacecraft collected a total of 2,300 particles larger than 15 micrometres across (1/3rd the width of a human hair).

Scientists at the University of Chicago are among the first ever to analyze cometary dust delivered to Earth via spacecraft.

The samples partly consist of several thin slices of one dust grain mounted in epoxy and held on a round copper grid covered by a thin film. They also received a bullet-shaped epoxy plug holding the remainder of the grain.

"They can make hundreds of slices of each individual grain," Simon said. He and Grossman are studying their slices with an electron microprobe and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The microprobe is capable of revealing the chemical composition of microscopically small patches of material, while the SEM provides highly magnified images.

The Stardust cometary materials now join a collection of charged particles from the sun gathered by NASA's Genesis mission and returned to Earth in 2004.

Full story here: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/stardust_under_analysis.html?2122006

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Comet from coldest spot in solar system has material from hottest places

Scientists analyzing recent samples of comet dust have discovered minerals that formed near the sun or other stars. That means materials from the innermost part of the solar system could have traveled to the outer reaches, where comets formed.

"The interesting thing is we are finding these high-temperature minerals in materials from the coldest place in the solar system," said Donald Brownlee, a University of Washington astronomer who is principal investigator, or lead scientist, for NASA's Stardust mission.

Among the finds in material brought back by Stardust is olivine, a mineral that is the primary component of the green sand found on some Hawaiian beaches. It is among the most common minerals in the universe, but finding it in comet Wild 2 could challenge a common view of how such crystalline materials form.

Many astronomers believe olivine crystals form from glass when it is heated close to stars, Brownlee said. One puzzle is why such crystals came from Wild 2, a comet that formed beyond the orbit of Neptune when the solar system began some 4.6 billion years ago.

The comet traveled the frigid environs of deep space until 1974, when a close encounter with Jupiter brought it to the inner solar system. Besides olivine, the dust from Wild 2 also contains exotic, high-temperature minerals rich in calcium, aluminum and titanium.

"I would say these materials came from the inner, warmest parts of the solar system or from hot regions around other stars," Brownlee said.

"The issue of the origin of these crystalline silicates still must be resolved. With our advanced tools, we can examine the crystal structure, the trace element composition and the isotope composition, so I expect we will determine the origin and history of these materials that we recovered from Wild 2."

More here: www.physorg.com/news11706.html

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[Maddad]

If we establish that minerals can travel from the innear solar system to the outer reaches, then it would give yet another boost to Panspermia. Note though that doesn't explain the origin of lfe; it just allows for a different location.