Stardust Options

[Guest_exobioquest_*]

nprev,

Yes, but I was not aware he was dead... may he spin in his grave, that all I going to say about him. (“if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”)

Stardust could provide evidence for panspermia at a pre-biotic level, that is really exciting, but if Fred Hoyle theories turn out true I will publicly shove a broom stick up my…

[Bill Harris]

EGD, welcome to the world of observational astronomy. Many a time I've driven a hundred miles under arctic conditions with 200 pounds of equipment to photograph a comet, observe an eclipse or time an occultation, only to stand around all night, hands in pockets, looking at clouds...

It's a rough world. But you have to keep trying.

--Bill

[nprev]

nprev,

Yes, but I was not aware he was dead... may he spin in his grave, that all I going to say about him. (“if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”)

Stardust could provide evidence for panspermia at a pre-biotic level, that is really exciting, but if Fred Hoyle theories turn out true I will publicly shove a broom stick up my…

Yeah, I was surprised to see that Hoyle had died so recently. I don't give any credence to his ideas on comets & viruses, but it is a shame--and bitterly ironic-- that he passed away while Stardust was enroute to Wild 2.

[edstrick]

After the capsule was down... I was thinking of a somewhat larger capsule in a crater near the town of Grovers Mills......

[nprev]

After the capsule was down... I was thinking of a somewhat larger capsule in a crater near the town of Grovers Mills......

I just heard a flash report on the radio...another capsule from space has landed just outside of Los Angeles! Unfortunately, my Motorola blew a tube shortly thereafter, but I hear this odd humming noise coming from outside...

[edstrick]

Humming a angular 5-note theme.... with lots of bass in the notes?

Why do I have this urge to make mashed potato<e>s?

[odave]

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.

NPR reported this morning that they've got the canister out and are set to transport it to JSC tomorrow...

[Guest_exobioquest_*]

Love to see pictures of the sample collector... Like to see some alien road kill splattered against it

So what can be done with the mothership, how much fuel is left?

[djellison]

Well - the managers in the press conf's seemed to be fairly sure of the potential for one ( and infact they used plural... comets ) or more comet and/or asteroid flybys in the future. It has a reasonable camera ( not great, but some pictures are better than no pictures ), and the dust instruments, and it's well armed with it's Whipple Shields.

http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/discovery/dpl.html
and specifically - http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/discovery/P.../Discovery1.pdf ( to be updated soon with post-flyby figures ) specify what's possible with it.

The managers were talking very ambiguously, as this is a competative discovery AO, but I imagine they'll be the one's to propose an extended mission, and would be most likely to get it. A few $10m's seems a bargin for an extra flyby to help us understand these strange bodies a little more, particularly given that CONTOUR never needed it's running costs and analysis money.

Doug

[odave]

Whipple Shields.

Those are the ones that say "please don't squeeze the spacecraft", right?

[CosmicRocker]

As for the mothership's future possibilities, surely they would seriously consider a swing past Tempel 1, would they not? It really would be nice to get a clear image of the Deep Impact crater.

[ElkGroveDan]

As for the mothership's future possibilities, surely they would seriously consider a swing past Tempel 1, would they not?  It really would be nice to get a clear image of the Deep Impact crater.

...or create another one!

[JRehling]

As for the mothership's future possibilities, surely they would seriously consider a swing past Tempel 1, would they not?  It really would be nice to get a clear image of the Deep Impact crater.

I doubt if there is enough thrust available to visit any old target we choose. With limited fuel, the idea would be to see what appealing targets happen to stray within the torus surrounding Stardust's current orbit (plus or minus what changes can be made with the fuel remaining). I'd put very long odds against any given particular target being one of the options.

[nprev]

I vote for P/Encke, since it's the purported source body for the August 10, 1972 daylight fireball that skipped back out of the atmosphere. BTW, I was under that thing in Western Montana at the time, if anybody is interested in an eyewitness account...awesome, but scary at that moment 'cause I thought it was an ICBM!

Another goodie would be the anomalous asteroid 3200 Phaethon that's recently been identified as the source of the Geminid meteors...probably a nearly-dead comet nucleus, so observations would be valuable for understanding the whole life cycle of these critters.

Both of these objects are reasonably close to the ecliptic plane, I think; P/Encke has a 3.3 yr orbit that doesn't look too different from that of the Stardust bus right now as far as eccentricity.

[dvandorn]

So, has anyone heard any explanations yet as to why the tracking telemetry showed none of the anticipated deceleration during most of the drogue chute phase of the descent? Is there any story about this, any theory? And, heck -- is there any way they can recover the drogue chute? I mean, it had to come down *somewhere*...

-the other Doug