Stardust

NASA depiction of Stardust approaching comet Wild 2

LAUNCH DATE: February 12, 1999

COST: $199.6 million (including launch)

OVERVIEW: NASA's Stardust is the first U.S. mission dedicated solely to visiting a comet and represents the first attempt to return extraterrestrial material from outside the orbit of the moon. Its primary goal is to collect comet dust and volatile samples during a planned close encounter with comet Wild 2 in January 2004. The Stardust spacecraft will bring back samples of interstellar dust, including the recently discovered dust streaming into the solar system from the direction of Sagittarius.

While in space, it will open like a clamshell, with the dust collector grid deployed into the dust stream.

The spacecraft will make three loops around the sun. On the second loop, the trajectory of the spacecraft will intersect that of Wild 2. During encounter the spacecraft will send back pictures of Wild 2, counts of comet particles striking the spacecraft, and real-time analyses of the compositions of the particles and volatile samples.

Stardust is to return to Earth with its celestial bounty in January 2006. The dust will be aboard a re-entry capsule about a meter in diameter.

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NASA link: Stardust Home Page

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Main Story | Glenn Returns to Space | International Space Station
Mars Surveyor 98 | Stardust | Deep Space 1 & 2

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