Stardust probe

1999/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

Under the probe last month NASA launched the Stardust probe. The goal is to take samples of the marrow of comet Wild-2 and deposit them into the soil. The comet will arrive on January 2, 2004 and the size of the particles you will receive is very small, less than a micron. They will use a material called aerogel in a ten-hour operation. There are no densities in the world inferior to those of this material, but its resistance is sufficient to capture particles without transformation.

Once the particles are captured, the box used for this will be completely closed and inserted into the return capsule. This will be on January 15, 2006, with a parachute in the Utah desert. The Wild-2 comet is considered suitable, as it still retains the structure in which the solar system was created. If everything went well, it would be the first time non-lunar space material was brought to Earth.