Don Brownlee
Don Brownlee
history written
Our history is written at the submicron level, in these interstellar grains.
almost billion grabbed incredible landed miles piece traveled visited
We traveled almost 3 billion miles in space. We visited a comet, grabbed a piece of it, and it landed here this morning. It's an incredible thrill.
fire found remarkably samples solar
Remarkably enough, we have found fire and ice. We have found samples in the coldest part of the solar system.
believe comet mission older particles
Our mission is called Stardust, in part because we believe some of the particles in the comet will, in fact, be older than the sun.
blow button felt finger guy vehicle verge
It felt like the whole thing was on the verge of disaster. There was this guy with his finger on a button to blow the vehicle up if it went off range. ... No one said anything for minutes.
Well, we'll see. But we do have some interesting stuff.
comet features incredible oddly saw seen solar steep stunned system
We were stunned when we got to the comet and saw incredible features - steep cliffs, overhanging cliffs, spires and many features which, oddly enough, we had never been seen on other Solar System bodies.
almost contain electron identify microscope minerals questions
We'll be able to say some things almost instantly. One of the big questions is do comets contain minerals that contain water, called hydrated silicates and under an electron microscope you can identify those practically instantly.
deliver earth form helped life material molecules organic whether
What we want to know is how organic molecules actually form in comets and whether they helped deliver organic material to the Earth before life began.
analysis bringing collected comet home samples
We have successfully collected samples from the comet and we're bringing them home for analysis in laboratories all over the world.
atoms attachment blocks bodies building carbon fact forth literally planetary rings solar stardust strong system
These are literally the building blocks of our planetary system. Personally, I feel a strong attachment to this thing and we should all feel a strong attachment to it because the fact is all the atoms in our bodies -- the carbon atoms and the oxygen, nitrogen, potassium and calcium and so forth -- all those atoms were in stardust rings ... before the solar system formed.
atoms blocks bodies building carbon comet coming forth literally planetary solar stardust system
These are literally the building blocks of our planetary system. All of the atoms in our bodies - the carbon atoms, the oxygen, the nitrogen, potassium, calcium and so forth - all of those atoms were in stardust grains like those coming out of the comet now before the solar system formed.
blocks building literally planetary
These are literally the building blocks of our planetary system.
blocks bringing building collecting edge history original planets solar
This is a history project. We are going to the edge of the solar system, collecting the original building blocks of the planets and bringing them back to our labs.