January, 2004
Stardust
| Launched in 1999, Stardust will be the first spacecraft to collect material from a comet and return it to Earth. On January 2, 2004, the spacecraft successfully intercepted its target, comet Wild-2. Stardust collected cometary particles using an extremely light, silicon-based solid called aerogel. | |
 41k JPEG Image courtesy of NASA/Jet Propulsion Laborator |
The samples will be returned to Earth in 2006. Ancient material retrieved from the comet will be compared to younger particles of interstellar dust collected by Stardust in 2000 and 2002. These samples may help us better understand how our galaxy evolved. |
41k JPEG |
Composite image of the surface and jets of Comet Wild 2 from the Stardust navigation camera Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech |
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