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NASA Stardust Returns to Earth
quadsoft writes "The Globe and Mail reports "Dugway Proving Ground, Utah -- A space capsule ferrying the first comet dust samples to Earth parachuted onto a remote stretch of desert before dawn Sunday, drawing cheers from elated scientists.
The touchdown capped a seven-year journey by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which zipped past a comet in 2004 to capture minute dust particles and store them in the capsule.""
This is a truly impressive mission. Fire and forget is one thing but bringing back pieces of a comet is... in my opinion, right up there with the moon missions.
Laws are for people with no friends.
All contact has been lost with the residents of the town of Piedmont, AZ. State Police have set up a perimeter around the area and all residents are advised to stay indoors until further notice.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
For my real comment, is this the stardust that NASA (or somebody else) wants to give to people people to analyze because they also grabbed some debris from a recent (and by recent I mean 10 million years ago) exploding star?
So, even after this successful capsule recovery, this might not be the end.
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
I want a box of that AeroGel stuff to play with! It's sooooooooo cool!!
They should have just faked this mission like the first moon landing and saved $30 million.
... like this one.
From the article:
Early Sunday, that capsule nose-dived through Earth's atmosphere at a record 29,000 mph, the fastest return for a man-man probe.
No comment required...
Ydco co
Well, now that it's back, we help them and join in the search: http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
"Jesus saves sinners...and redeems them for valuable coupons"
I don't see them dropping down with clotted blood yet.
;=)
Then again, they didn't open the capsule - and who knows what happens when they bring it to the doctor and he doesn't run a lunar lab...
(btw thanks for copying my comment
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
I am not sure I want to know what a man-man probe is...
d.
My motorbike travels in Chile.
Guess it is to early for a joke... :)
andromeda strain andromeda
pardon my spelling and lack of knowledge you geeks
We did it this time. The previous mission didn't work right, but this one nailed it. The political naysayers and critics who want to redefine science should pay attention.
We did it this time, but even with our previous failure, how could we attain such a level of precision with our measuring and then engineering of the laws of physics and chemistry to achieve such a specific goal, to send out a space probe that mindlessly orbits around the solar system for years and comes back to us like a cosmic boomerang, and yet be drastically and unanimously incorrect when it comes to measuring the rate of radioactive decay of various elements in the extensive global collection of terrestrial geological samples and also the synthetic elements we've created during the twentieth century atomic age?
Have all the scientists in all the nations of the world simply got it exactly, equally wrong?
The scientific framework of ideas is well-established and the theories are interdependent. This is why we can readily reject challenges like "Intelligent Design".
Because they just don't fit in.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
--
"Hoagy Carmichael (November 22, 1899 - December 27, 1981)
He is best known for writing "Stardust" (1927), which has
been called the most-recorded American song ever written"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_(song)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/0 8/1625231/
Seems NASA actually did something RIGHT for once. Three cheers for NASA!
Nasa is actually recruiting internet users to look at the data under a virtual microscope to find the dust particles. They are even gonna throw in some fakies just to see how good their recruits do. I tried posting something about that (my first /. post) but it was denied probably because they thought my wording wasn't good enough =)
a t-Home/story.xhtml?story_id=023002D7XDIJ
http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Finding-Stardust-
Sit at your computer and help the search with Stardust@Home.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
The parachute deployed this time.
I guess the accelerometers weren't installed uposide dowm.
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
Stardust was launched before Genesis. By assembly order, NASA/LM did it right the first time. Its number two that didn't work.
I worked on Genesis and a small amount on Stardust (post-launch work).
Where do I collect the one with my name on it?
a q.html
re: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/microchip/f
From NASA press release:
"I have been waiting for this day since the early 1980s when Deputy Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Tsou of JPL and I designed a mission to collect comet dust," said Dr. Don Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator from the University of Washington, Seattle. "To see the capsule safely back on its home planet is a thrilling accomplishment."
NASA has posted a few pictures and press releases.
Congratulations to all involved.
... take an English class.
Maybe they'll teach you what a "Run-On Sentence" is.
And why must every scientific acheivement be used against ID? (I'm not for it or against it by the way)
Can you imagine Wilbur Wright saying "Well Orville, now that we know how to fly, I guess we can tell everyone to stop going to church"
the fastest return for a man-man probe
No comment required...
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
When you have a kid with an earache and you can't get medical insurance because your job only pays $11 an hour
Then you can look at yourself and wonder "what the FUCK was I thinking and why didn't I keep my dick in my pants?". If you're on a job worth $11 an hour, get another job. Better yourself. Anybody can do it. If you want to choose to stay with your $11 an hour job, DON'T HAVE KIDS.
Words cannot express how much I hate the "gimme gimme" culture where people expect they're entitled to help just because they decide to work for peanuts and have kids, something you can't well support while working for peanuts.
hey Wetblanket,
Flipping off the use of public funds for the advancement of knowledge of our environment beyond our atmosphere is a liget use of funds. How much have you helped those same people you seem to be so concerned about? Oh, not a gift of money or your time. I thought so.
Independant of how you feel about ID, there is a major problem with your argument.
It is one thing to measure exactly how things behave now, to send a cosmic boomerang off and have it return with absolutle precision - that is our domain, our expertise if you will. It is in the now.
It is quite another to look back over millions of years and accurately say exactly how something came to be without the ability to be there and observe. Untiil a day comes that we can send an Hourglass mission winging back through time to return samples for us our degree of absolutle certanty will always be less that something we can measuer at the moment. We will always have theoories with gaps in understanding.
For someone who professes such an admiration for science, you sure don't seem to be observing many of the protocols.
P.S. - just to stem the tide of idiotic responses, I am not a fan of ID. Nor am I a fan of someone who professes fanatical devotion to anything without thought.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Oh, wait, another Stardust... Bummer.
To do list for Windows
Hello, short-of-mind.
If you want to have kids, fine by me. if you want to have kids on an $11 an hour job, fine by me.
If you choose to do that, don't complain about how fucked up you've made your life and don't sit there with your hand out waiting for someone else to rescue you from the life of your choice.
I haven't lived with my parents since I was 16. They too realised what a screwed up situation they got into by having 3 kids while aged 20 with one wage. So they chose to better themselves, pick up and move the family to somewhere they could get better jobs. And they did. And they studied, and they made well for themselves. They picked their own asses up and didn't complain that NASA was spending money on shooting guys to the moon, rather they went out and PROVIDED FOR THEMSELVES.
The last time a NASA capsule came down there, one paper ran the headline, "Saucer from Outer Space Lands in Utah Desert". Pretty clever way to grab attention without outright lying.
Table-ized A.I.
They have been analysing the genesis wafers for more than a year now and there is still no scientific results.
BRAAAAIIIIINNNSSS!!!
I am very happy that this can happend! This is the greatest combat that is actually forbidden by the majority of the human population. This is the most important thing that we should understand as soon as possible. This represents the future of the humanity. And in 2005 it looks that there is again a politicised 'anything you can do we can do better' like somedy told before. But we must work in group and organization that can bring new stuff without beeing limited to the cash! We must give all our energy in the developpement of a good space transporter! I know I dream but the earth will not be there for a long time! Focus gang, Focus! -- Sebastinator! Thanks for visiting my Web site! Post your comments on my forum!
Thanks for visiting my Web site! Post your comments on my forum!
So have any of the people who come into contact with the "space dust" started getting an appetite for brains ?
And you spending money on electricity and internet access helps these people how?
You can't stop modern science. Can't stop it, you can't stop it. Can't stop science. Can't be stopped, no way, no how, science just marches...
Parent poster's point is insipid, but your response is just embarrassing. You sound like you believe in having high standards -- you might want to apply that to the way you express yourself and the way you think about others.
Did anyone see the reentry from Silicon Valley? I went out last night in West San Jose and attempted to spot it, but saw nothing. On the other hand it was never supposed to be more that 15 degrees from the horizon, and the sky was a bit hazy.
A. Coward
"Spying on nude beach babes" probably won't qualify. Any other ideas? Seems there is probably a comet or asteroid out there wanting for a visit if the trajectory is reachable.
Table-ized A.I.
While this was a truly impressive stunt, er...mission...it was completely unnecessary. Its scientific results don't matter to anyone, nor do they change or improve the lives of anyone.
.
How can the results not matter? How can anyone not wish to find out their origins or their place in the universe?
When you have a kid with an earache and you can't get medical insurance because your job only pays $11 an hour and your local community health clinic shut down because the federal funds went to the trillion dollar insane war or to reduce the taxes of the super rich, then you will have an appreciation of how stupid, insulting, and unnecessary it is to spend money on pathetic stunts such as this.
The money spend on these things is nothing compared to the money spend on the Iraq war, or on defense in general
Without the ability to explore or to increase our understanding, many of us feel our lives would be less worth living.
I find the idea that such research should be prevented insulting to humanity.
We must judge these space and so-called research projects from the perspective of the total and effective benefit to our society,
Have you no soul? There are millions in our societies who follow such investigations with awe and wonder. They don't have small closed minds which won't look up above the horizon.
Projects like this make lives better.
Then grow up and join the human race. Learn to see all these stunt projects with a long-term humanistic sense of understanding.
This is precisely about a humanistic attitude.
We can stay living small lives on a small planet, perhaps trapped in our religions, or we can look billions of miles beyond our world and raise humanity to a space-exploring species.
If this capsule brought back a cure for cancer, malaria, or AIDS, then it could be celibrated by everyone. But, in reality, there nothing in it but a few milligrams of dust
The urge to investigate is what will help cure these things. It should not be stifled.
But anyway, you are wrong - it is not dust.
It is star dust. There is an astronomical and wondrous difference.
For a good time, go to geocities.com/heroineworshipper/sharpened.jpg. The faint line in the sky is the spaceship re-entering as seen from Antioch, Calif*.
MOD PARENT UP
AP News
During the NASA briefing revealing the first samples from the Stardust mission, Clark Kent, Science Reporter for "The Daily Planet" fell violently ill.
To the reporters further emabarrasment, the Fire Department EMT's reported that "..he's wearly these funky red tights under this suit.." Mr. Kent recoverd quickly and refused treatment at nearby Columbia Medical Center.
During all the confusion, there were initial reports that one of the green samples were stolen. A NASA spokesman, Lex Luthor labled those reports "Pure Fiction"
"I repeat, we are sold out of Bort microchips!"
Hey, really, I just want to get it straight. Because if I've deciphered that post correctly...[facing the audience now] ...what we have here is an incredibly rare combination of Anti-Bush Liberal, Right-to-Life Fundamentalist and Shining-Path Marxist-Socialist. (Not to mention anti-Bill Gates cloning).
Phew. That takes some doing. The poor guy is gonna self-destruct.
As to my tax dollars - If you don't mind too much, I'd just as soon they go toward a manned mission to the Oort cloud, thank you very much. (Though I must admit that a selective and covert sterilization program has it's attractions).
Yes, it's a small piece, but enough to play with.
"The money spend on these things is nothing compared to the money spend on the Iraq war, or on defense in general"
According to NASA, the total cost of the original failed Genesis was $264 million. This one they claim was cheaper at $212 million. Even though it's only slightly less than $1.65 for every person in the US, it's still not an insignificant sum. The money would have been better spent on stem cell research. Oh wait we can't do that because the ignorant Religious Nazis think stem cell research is evil because it requires killing babies (ignore that entire stem cell lines can be created from naturally aborted babies).
"America and the European Space Agency continue to spend billions of dollars exploring space dust"
Lets hope they don't bring back space dust that will melt our eyeballs from their sockets. Because no one can afford health insurance!
Who gives a shit where the dust came from? Who gives a shit if water existed on Mars?
I know *I* don't. But someone more important then me does! The project got financed.
"Do you really believe that America landed on the moon"
Well,..It looked fake to me! Especially when ya look at the shadows made in the film, because there was no sunlight.
However,,,I am sure it scared the pants off the Russians who made it into space first-- major ego problems i'm sure.
"Are you people stupid?"
Did you have to ask? Dont think so...
"I'm going to FUCKIN PUKE!"
Me too, i'll BRB!!
----
This has been another valuable and informative opinion from:
Catahoula!
Whoever modded this offtopic is obviously not a Michael Crichton fan.
Make that early Michael Crichton fan. Crichton has in recent years become something of a joke with his views on a "widespread scientific conspiracy" that's foisting the "myth" of Global Warming upon an unsuspecting public. Crichton even went so far as to testify in the United States Congress as a so-called authority on the subject. Hello, ladies and gentleman: Crichton is a writer of fiction, not a climatologist.
But I digress, so I'll get back on topic. What makes The Andromeda Strain such a gripping read is the fact that this microorganism is so shockingly deadly, and it is fascinating to read the high-tech, top-secret response to the crisis. Which is to say, Crichton would never have written a book about a harmless organism landing on Earth, as it would not have created any tension, therefore he would have had no story.
Any writer worth his/her salt knows that science fiction begins with an absurd premise and develops logically from there. In the case of Andromeda Strain, the absurd premise is a worst-case scenario, and of course it falls apart if inspected closely: the Earth has been bombarded by meteorites and small comets (as well as 'dust' that enters the atmosphere much more gently) since the dawn of time, so surely any microorganism could hitch a ride to Earth in that manner.
So yes, Stardust has landed in Utah with cometary dust. And yes, I'll be sleeping soundly tonight.
Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
didn't the last one of those also land ont...Into the ground ?
If your neighbours roof is flying past your window, you know it's cyclone season.
Yeah way to go! Rant against some peanuts well spent and back your argument up mentioning cartloads thrown away against useless pursuits. Am I the only one sensing the non sequitur in this reasoning? You should be going after the ass holes that brought your country to WAR with a useless LIE, for an UNETHICAL agenda, rather than bitch about the crumbs given to the enrichment of humanity's knowledge and ultimately progress. Idiot.
Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
Nowadays it looks like slashdot is getting dumber (or is it apathy ? ).
Earlier, the discussions used to revolve around the possible repurcussions of this research, what they are trying t find, technical details about the mission and what its goals are etc.
Now most of them are inane jokes, discussions that gets veered towards ID (whats the big deal here anyway ? ) or Bush or similar.
I think we are giving too much importance to jokes here.
This is killing the discussions.
Regards
More recently, many people believe that the only things that came out of the Apollo missions were moonrocks, Velcro and Tang, that the money would have been better spent on other, more altruistic and pressing issues of the day. If that wish had been heeded back in the day, many of the fruits of research and invention of new technologies that made the Apollo missions possible would not be around today, and today they are everywhere, in medicine, in computing, in communications, transportation, the list goes on and on.
When it comes to most of the gigantic problems plaguing mankind, we cannot tackle them frontally in a linear fashion. Hints and solutions come from "outside the box", which is to say the by-products of other areas of research.
So, if 'star dust' is too obscure and abstract a bounty for some people, not to worry, their payoff will come not from the actual mission itself, but from the by-products of the labs and shops that designed and built the spacecraft. These are the Menlo Parks of today. But we probably will never know that the payoff came from Stardust or Cassini or Spirit and Endeavour, as the benefits will reach us in an indirect manner, such as new components that make radiation treatment for cancer a bit more effective, for example. And of course, there are longer-term benefits that we can't begin to imagine.
Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
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Yes...
I think it would be the alien organism in peril not us...
Earth organisms have had billions of years to evolve with billions of other organisms competing against them... Lining up an organism that has been floating round space with one from earth is most likely going to be like putting a featherweight up against a super heavy weight.
The story of a killer organism from outer space is only slightly less ridiculous than the story of superman.
Of course, this has to be done. Man is an adventurer. There will always be 1000 reasons to not do something. Nothing would get done otherwise. We wouldn't even be here having this conversation. NASA Stardust Mission Capsule Brings Comet Dust to Earth That little spacecraft was sent out on a 4.6 billion Km round-trip for 7 years, had a rendezvous with a comet, as planned - and it came back to earth and sent the payload exactly where they wanted it to. That alone is worth it. The main parachute opened perfectly after being packed up for 7 years. The money it cost is a drop in the ocean. The movement of the stock market can destroy that much in a few hours. The research that made it do all that is all around us. The good that comes out of such things affects us in ways most of us don't realise. I'm in awe of the minds that did all of this.
Daily News http://newsblaze.com
Even though it's only slightly less than $1.65 for every person in the US, it's still not an insignificant sum.Even though it's only slightly less than $1.65 for every person in the US, it's still not an insignificant sum.
I would have thought that that is very good definition of an insignificant sum, especially when compared to defense spending.
I mean, come on, if you've read any of Micheal Crichton's pseudoscience novels, this would be the one to start with. Although it was a meteor, not a comet, that carried it, if I'm remember rightly.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?