Stardust
NASA's comet sample-return mission — it flew through the coma of comet Wild 2, captured dust in aerogel, and parachuted the sample capsule to Earth in 2006: the first sample return from a comet, and the first return of solid material from beyond the Moon (NASA's Genesis had returned solar-wind atoms in 2004). Its extended mission (Stardust-NExT) later imaged the Deep Impact crater on Tempel 1.
Imagery
Stardust Image of Asteroid Annefrank
2002
NASA/JPL-Caltech · NASA media (public domain)
This is the small-body-missions view of Stardust. See its main mission page for the full profile.
Targets & sample
Mission & science
- Goals
- Capture and return dust from a comet's coma, plus interstellar dust, for laboratory analysis.
- Engineering milestones
- First cometary sample return, and the first return of solid material from beyond the Moon (2006); revisited Tempel 1 as Stardust-NExT (2011).
- Science discoveries
- Wild 2 grains include high-temperature minerals, showing large-scale mixing in the early Solar System; the amino acid glycine was detected.
- Sample return
- Thousands of particles captured in aerogel, recovered in Utah in January 2006 (mass not meaningfully quantifiable).
- Outcome
- Complete success.
Knowledge connections
- VisitedTempel 1
- VisitedWild 2
- Returned samples fromWild 2
- Member of groupFlyby Mission
- Member of groupSample-Return Mission
- Launched byDelta II
- Operated byNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- VisitedWild 2
- Collected sampleWild 2 Sample (Stardust)
- Mission includesStardust Sample-Return Capsule
- Associated withReturn & Reentry
- Associated withStardust@home
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
- NASA JPLJet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics
Orbital data, ephemerides, and small-body parameters for planets, asteroids, and comets.