Stardust spacecraft

The densities of comets Halley and Tempel 2 were estimated to be 0.3 g cm 3, consistent with highly porous objects. However, comet 81 P/Wild2, imaged by the Stardust spacecraft in 2004, appears to be a more coherent object, implying that it has a higher density, -0.6 gcm 3. 

In 2004, the NASA Stardust spacecraft passed through the dust cloud surrounding the nucleus of comet Wild2 and captured more than 10 000 particles ranging from 1 to 300 pm in size (Brownlee et al., 2006). These particles were returned to Earth for study in terrestrial laboratories in 2006. Initial results are described in the December 15, 2006, issue of Science. 

Brownlee, D. and 181 coauthors ( ) (2006) Comet 81 P/Wild2 under a microscope. Science 314, 1711-1716. This fascinating article, plus the more focused articles that follow it in the same issue, provide the first characterization of comet dust samples collected and returned by the Stardust spacecraft. 

Sandford, S. A. plus 54 coauthors (2006) Organics captured from comet 81P/Wild2 by the Stardust spacecraft. Science, 314, 1720-1724. 

This photograph of Comet Wild-2 was taken by the Stardust spacecraft s navigation camera on January 2, 2004, at a distance of about 300 miles (500 km) from the comet. (NASA/Photo Researchers, Inc.)... 

Comet and Interstellar Dust Analyser (CIDA) is a time-of-flight mass spectrometer aboard NASA s Stardust spacecraft launched in February 1999 to explore comet Wild 2 (mission 1999-2006). CIDA has been fabricated by Hoerner Sulger, under contract by the German Space Agency. 

The Stardust spacecraft was launched successfully in February of 1999 from Kennedy Space Center on a Delta launch vehicle. During the cruise phase prior to the comet encounter. 

Figure 32.1. The aerogel is seen deployed extending above the spacecraft (left of center) for particle capture in this artist s image of the Stardust spacecraft.

Images of comet nuclei taken during various spacecraft encounters illustrate both similarities and differences. Figure 12.2 compares images of comets Borrelly (taken by Deep Space 1 in 2001), Wild2 (taken by Stardust in 2004), and Tempel 1 (taken by Deep Impact in... 

Stardust, a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spacecraft, used silica gel to collect particles of debris from the tail of comet Wild-2. 

For components that require a high level of protection, the materials could be modeled as a scaled down version of comet probes such as Contour, Giotto, and Stardust. The selection of materials would also be based on the location of the component with the spacecraft If impacts could only occur at a direction perpendicular to the velocity vector of the spacecraft, then that component would receive a far lower fluence level compared to one that is exposed to impact from the front, in the direction of the spacecraft velocity vector. Preferential component location and orientation essentially shields the component from the particle flux and therefore reduces the scale of protection required... 

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