Space Daily·2 min read·medium
In 2004 a NASA probe caught a comet's tail on a sheet of aerogel, flew the grains 4.6 billion kilometres home, and dropped them into the Utah desert — the first solid pieces of a comet ever returned t
✦AI Summary
In 2004, NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully collected microscopic dust particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 using a silica aerogel collector. The mission returned these solid samples to Earth, marking a significant milestone in space exploration.
On 2 January 2004, NASA’s Stardust spacecraft flew through the cloud surrounding comet 81P/Wild 2 at 6.1 kilometres per second. A collector filled with silica aerogel faced the incoming dust, slowing microscopic particles that would otherwise have st... [9054 chars]
sciencetechnology
✦
Get the full story
Sign up for Headlinne to unlock AI insights, political bias analysis, and your personalized news feed.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in