![[Stardust spacecraft]](image/stardust.gif)
Launch: 7 February 1999, 21:04:15 UT (4:04:15 p.m. EST)
Comet Rendezvous: 2 January 2004
Return to Earth: 15 January 2006
The Stardust mission was chosen from a group of
3 contenders
as the fourth Discovery class mission.
(See the NASA Press Release for more details.)
The Stardust mission is designed for a rendezvous with the active comet P/Wild 2,
where it will collect material surrounding the comet. Passive aerogel collectors
will be used to trap the samples of coma and interstellar dust. This material
will provide our first sample of pristine cometary material, and increase our
understanding of interstellar dust. Stardust will then return to Earth with
these samples for scientific study. The mission will also analyze the
cometary coma in situ, examine the composition of the samples in-flight using
a mass spectrometer, and take images of the comet.
Stardust Status Report
Detailed information on the Stardust mission
- from the NSSDCA Master Catalog
Stardust Project Home Page Comets and Asteroids Page Comet Fact Sheet - including information on P/Wild 2
Stardust Spacecraft Encounters Solar Flare
- 21 November 2000 Stardust Prelaunch Science Briefing
- 13 January 1999 Stardust Press Release
- announcing the selection of the mission. Stardust, Suess-Urey, and Venus Multi-Probe
- the 3 missions originally under consideration. Other Past, Current, and Future Planetary Missions Upcoming Planetary Events and Missions NSSDCA Planetary Science Home Page
Author/Curator: