Stardust Options

[Guest_exobioquest_*]

Any pictures of it in the lab yet? I want to see them crack it open and a Facehugger comes shooting out and gets one of the techs

In reality though I hope they find some complex organic molecules in the coming months, hope such volatile material did not vaporize out of the air-o-gel on impact.

[Bob Shaw]

It was a c0n5piracy! The re-entry vehicle landed, 'by accident', in the only cr0p c1rcle for three States...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust.../capsule-1.html

Which is why ElkGroveDan missed the show - it was, er, planned that way.

On a serious note, at least he had a good cigar!

Bob Shaw

[Bob Shaw]

They opened the capsule... ...and not a can of Japanese energy drink in sight! Not even Sterno and aspirin...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust...leanroom-2.html

Bob Shaw

[helvick]

It was a c0n5piracy!  The re-entry vehicle landed, 'by accident', in the only cr0p c1rcle for three States...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust.../capsule-1.html

Which is why ElkGroveDan missed the show - it was, er, planned that way.

NoNoNo - look at how the pattern was formed by the capsule backshell!

All these chr0p c1rcles are obviously covert landing sites for sample return missions. I demand that the UK authorities comes clean about the dozens of successful sample return missions they have carried out and kept secret.

[JRehling]

There is no question that I was observing the correct part of the sky at the correct time.  If anyone has any guesses as to what happened I'd be interested. 

Sounds like you were viewing from below the entry path, so if there was any inaccuracy in how the track was reported, the difference in sky position would have been huge.

I saw it from San Francisco, and it was much lower than I expected it (via my own calculations). But I had no trouble spotting it, even against the intense glare of city lights. Because I was so much farther away, a modest discrepancy in position would have made less difference in where to look.

It was right on time. I went to my deck less than two minutes before the time, and there was no time discrepancy. It was moving *fast*, so if you weren't looking in the right place, it could have easily been behind the back of your head and finishing it's streak before you scanned for it. I'd say I had 30 seconds before it vanished into the light pollution over Oakland.

A pity I didn't video it -- the backdrop of skyscrapers and the Bay Bridge and that little streaking light could have been nice.

[nprev]

Well, well well.......................

Got to my chosen location about an hour early (which was an hour later than I really wanted).

Drove about 5 miles farther north into the Mountains.  Found a most awesome site on the slopes overlooking an arm of Shasta Lake with a wide open view of the heavens.

Perfectly clear skies.  Bone chilling cold (probably 20F).

Set up the analog video and tripod, carefully focused to infinity and aimed it on the begining of the predicted trajectory and set the lens for a wide angle view.

Set up the digital video, aimed it at the departing end of the trajectory.

Set up a small digital still and set it to fire off rapid fire stills until the card was full, and aimed it at the midpoint of the predicted trajectory.

Loaded up the SLR with 1600 speed film.  Set for manual exposure 1/60 sec, f4.5 and slung it over my shoulder.

15 minutes before estimated time, started both videos, poised next to digital still with left hand on shutter and SLR in right hand.

Friend with GPS monitor begins calling off time 15 minutes out.

10 minutes out a train comes thundering through a nearby tunnel.....

waited

waited

about 5 minutes before the scheduled time a small yellowish streak briefly flashes through the target zone...

That wasn't it! I yell to my friend, over the roar of the train....

waited....

waited...

and nothing more......

So now I feel like a complete fool.

There is no question that I was observing the correct part of the sky at the correct time.  If anyone has any guesses as to what happened I'd be interested. 

$50 in gas and a night's sleep (shakes head in disgust)  

At least the cigar was good. 

Really sorry to hear this, Dan...we were pulling for you!

[RedSky]

Any pictures of it in the lab yet? I want to see them crack it open and a Facehugger comes shooting out and gets one of the techs 

In reality though I hope they find some complex organic molecules in the coming months, hope such volatile material did not vaporize out of the air-o-gel on impact.

Seeing that reentry capsule on the ground with all the guys around it in heavy coats (looking like hazmat suits), it reminded me of the Andromeda Strain.

[Decepticon]

Has it been opened yet?

[djellison]

They'll just take off the backshell and get the sample canister out at the range - then send that on over to TX for proper opening and analysis. THAT should happen Thursday I understand.

Doug

[ElkGroveDan]

Really sorry to hear this, Dan...we were pulling for you!

I've been known to take long drives for far more arcane reasons. And as we already discussed, I did get to enjoy an entire good cigar.

I should have brought some Lipovitan - D though. The coffee and espresso beans just weren't doing the trick.

[Guest_exobioquest_*]

Seeing that reentry capsule on the ground with all the guys around it in heavy coats (looking like hazmat suits), it reminded me of the Andromeda Strain.

Well the biochemistry of andromeda strain is very SF and would require new physics to make possible, but it has been postulated that bacterial spores can survive travel through space for extensive time, completely unshielded! But it gets better: some models show that such spores could enter the atmosphere without producing enough friction to kill them, so if there is life being spewed out by comets they have been landing on earth by there own means… and there are even some nuts that have correlated every plague in history with meteor showers!

[nprev]

Glad that the stogie was at least worth it, Dan!


Exobioquest, do you remember Sir Fred Hoyle's theories concerning comets & viruses? Too bad he died in 2001; I'm sure that he was hoping to see Stardust's results more than anyone else.

[lyford]

ElkGroveDan, as someone who has convinced friends to make a long drive in order to freeze during a poor Perseid showing, I can sympathize... but then maybe you did your karmic duty by channeling bad luck away from the spacecraft, like a lightning rod, keeping it safe.

[ElkGroveDan]

ElkGroveDan, as someone who has convinced friends to make a long drive in order to freeze during a poor Perseid showing, I can sympathize...  but then maybe you did your karmic duty by channeling bad luck away from the spacecraft, like a lightning rod, keeping it safe. 

Anything for the greater cause.

Man it was cold. I've lived in places like Montreal, Canada and Bozeman, Montana over the years, so I really know cold, but somehow that mere 20 degree (-6) crisp air just ate through to my bones. Probably my advanced age is causing it. Going to be 45 soon.

I'll try and capture the audio stream from one of those video cameras for laughs as my friend Tom and I can be heard mulling over the circumstances.


(By the way, from Ventura, if you want a great location for Perseid viewing I'd suggest taking Hwy 26 out to I-5 and pulling off high atop the Tehachapis bnefore Gorman onto the Old Sierra Highway and finding a place out of view of the freeway. Another choice is to take camping gear to Palm Springs, ride the tram to the top of Mt. San Jacinto, get a wilderness permit at the ranger station and hike up the mountain a ways to a nice meadow with open skies. It'll blow your mind.)

[RNeuhaus]

Caray, that is a misfortune. It is a headache with the Stardust's changing trayectories plans. Was the trayectory a bit northern than the pronosticated? So you are going to celebrate soon your birthday in Hawai with warmer waters to unfrozeen your bones.

Rodolfo