Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
The highly successful NASA Discovery mission Stardust became the first mission to return samples to Earth from a known comet in January 2006 [1]. The samples were captured during a flyby of comet 81P/Wild2 using aerogel, a very low density, silica (SiO2)-based solid with a highly porous structure [2]. Currently, scientists around the world are studying the cometary particles returned by Stardust and reporting fascinating discoveries about the history of comets and the evolution of our solar system. Given the widely acknowledged success of the Stardust mission, additional comet sample return missions are attractive and competitive concepts for future NASA Discovery-class missions; in particular, additional comet sample return missions will allow the first laboratory studies to investigate the naturally occurring diversity among comets, a crucial scientific question for understanding not just the formation of comets but also the very nature of the early solar system. Though Stardust was highly successful, there are important lessons learned from the mission on which advances in aerogel technology can be based
Keywords:
Nonmetallic Materials
Type:
39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference; Mar 10, 2008 - Mar 14, 2008; League City, TX; United States
Format:
application/pdf
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