Don Brownlee
Don Brownlee
collected considered extremely form found high minerals normally siberia solar
We found mineral grains that are considered very high-temperature minerals -- they normally form under extremely high temperature conditions. And yet they were collected in a comet, the Siberia of the solar system.
blocks building cold collect comet confident edge far formed initial materials mission primitive solar sun
We did this mission to collect the most primitive materials we could in the solar system. We went to a comet that formed at the edge of the solar system, far from the sun under very cold conditions. We're confident that it was made out of the initial building blocks of our solar system.
collected either form found high hottest normally red samples siberia solar white
We found the hottest samples in the coldest place. These are mineral grains that normally form under high temperature conditions. They were either red hot or white hot grains. Yet they were collected in the Siberia of the solar system.
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This comet formed at very edge of the solar system ... out by pluto ... and spent all its lifetime out there until recently it came into the inner part of the solar system, where we could sample it.
formed hot major planets pluto regions solar sun system thrown
There are two major possibilities. One that they formed in the innermost, hotter-most regions of our solar system when the sun and planets were forming, and they were thrown out -- all the way out to the Pluto region of the solar system. The other possibility is they were formed around other stars, in hot regions around other stars.
actual believe billion blocks building collecting formed information particles solar stored system
We are collecting the actual building blocks the solar system was formed from 4.5 billion years ago. We believe that the particles have a lot of information stored in them.
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.
believe best beyond bodies collecting comet formed major mission planets preserved reason samples solar system
The fundamental reason for this mission is that we are collecting what we believe are the best preserved samples of the formation of our solar system and they are preserved because they formed these comet bodies beyond the major planets out beyond Neptune.
starting work
We're just starting to work on this ... it will take years to analyze.
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We've undergone a very heavy level of scrutiny by review boards because of Genesis and because of the Columbia accident. . . . It was a cultural shift in NASA, that you're now required to understand all the risks.
comet delivered exciting opening seeing
The real exciting thing will be opening the canister and seeing what the comet delivered to us.
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.
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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.
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.