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Dust Samples Returning to Earth at 28,860 mph

Posted by samzenpus on from the faster-than-a-speeding-bullet dept.

DjBenBen writes "After a 2.88 billion mile round-trip journey, NASA's Stardust mission is nearing Earth with comet and interstellar dust particles that could help provide answers about the origins of the solar system. Better yet, the velocity of the sample return capsule, as it enters the Earth's atmosphere at 28,860 mph, will be the fastest of any human-made object on record."

2 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Last time we attempted this... by Nuffsaid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's hope for a smoother reentry than that of the Genesis probe

    --
    Nuffsaid
    ________

    Don't know about his cat, but Schroedinger is definitely dead.
  2. Re:THere IS something wrong with that allegation . by LabRat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Your physics teacher needs to be fired/lynched/shot (depending on local laws)

    First of all, your units are wrong. Escape velocity is around 25,000 MILES per hour.

    Second, if the object is actually headed *towards* earth, it's own trajectory will preclude it from "escaping". Do you think anything traveling faster than escape velocity will simply quantum-tunnel through the earth?

    Third, lots of meteors enter the earth's atmosphere every day with velocities on the order of, or exceeding, the "escape velocity" of earth. Yet, somehow they magically manage to burn up in the atmosphere and/or strike the earth anyway. Wow. Do ya think that maybe, just maybe, the probe might use a similar technique/trajectory to return to earth?

    Ignorance can be cured. Stupidity is permanent. I'm not sure what camp you fall into yet.