Stardust launches
FROM: Vince Stricherz
vinces@u.washington.edu
(206) 543-2580
DATE: Feb. 7, 1999
Stardust blasts through sunny sky enroute to comet rendezvous
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Stardust rode a thundering rocket through a sunny Florida sky and into space today, a major stride in University of Washington astronomy professor Donald Brownlee's quest to capture grains from a comet and return them to Earth.
The launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station came just after 4:04 p.m., a day after the first launch attempt was scrubbed because of a radar problem that cropped up just 1:43 before liftoff.
"It's really exciting to see it finallyt lift off after all of that work, and especially exciting after yesterday's launch was cut off just a minute before. It's very spectacular," Brownlee said as he watched the Boeing Delta II rocket disappearing into the upper atmosphere.
Brownlee, a leading expert on space particles, is the principal investigator for the seven-year mission. His dream of capturing particles directly from a comet began in 1980 when NASA began exploring a possible mission to Halley's comet. That proved unworkable, but in 1995 NASA chose the Stardust mission as part of its Discovery series.
"It's a great day," he said. "One of the biggest thrills is to have all these comet experts here, like Paul Wild (Vilt), Fred Whipple and Carolyn Shoemaker, witnessing this project that we've been working on so long."
The Stardust spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, entered Earth's orbit 11 minutes after liftoff, then quickly began the first of three giant loops around the sun. As it passes Earth at the end of the first loop, it will pick up speed with an assist from Earth's gravity. The UW, NASA, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockeed Martin Astronautics are the primary partners in the project.
Stardust will cross paths with comet Wild 2 (Vilt-2) in early 2004. It will deploy its collector, which resembles a waffle iron, and trap particles in a wispy substance called aerogel. Many of the grains will be only a few microns in size, but they will leave a telltale trail through the aerogel that will allow scientists to easily find them when the capsule returns to Earth.
A retooled camera from the Voyager program will capture the closest images of a comet ever recorded and transmit them to Earth following the encounter. Stardust is scheduled to return to Earth in January 2006 and send a capsule containing its prized cargo -- less than an ounce of comet dust -- parachuting into the Utah desert.
The particles will be sent to Johnson Space Center in Houston, and from there will be parceled out to scientists around the world.
It is believed comets retain chemical and molecular characteristics that were present at the beginning of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Those characteristics have been preserved because comets are frozen and typically float in deep space, far from solar heat that causes changes to the particles' properties. Comets that travel in the inner solar system are believed to have been altered by heat from the sun.
Wild 2 is different because the comet only began traveling in the inner solar system relatively recently. A close encounter with Jupiter in 1974 altered the comet's trajectory. Previously it orbited outside Jupiter, but now comes in as close as Mars, which makes the Stardust mission feasible.
Even a small sample of grains, Brownlee said, could unlock information about the origins of the solar system and the beginnings of life on Earth. It is widely believed that comets bombarded Earth in its early history, depositing water and perhaps the elements that eventually evolved into life.
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