NASA Sweeps Up

corleth writes "The BBC reports that a NASA spacecraft has begun its second phase of collecting interstellar dust grains to be returned to Earth in 2006 for analysis. In 2004, Stardust will rendezvous with comet Wild 2 to collect gas and dust. This will make it the first mission since the Apollo programme to collect and return materials from an extra-terrestrial body. The JPL press release can be found here." The Aerogel that they're using is nifty stuff.

Comments

Questions

[PD]

1) Wasn't there a battery problem a while ago that some thought might prevent the Earth return? Did that problem get resolved?

2) The spacecraft looks like it's almost halfway between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Has there been anything send further from Earth and returned safely? I'd think that the parts of the spacecraft that return should have a place in the Smithsonian.