Wednesday, July 27, 2022

"Wild-2 was a repository largely unprocessed proto-solar nebular materials." -Scott Sandford


Sandford mentions early that he intends this talk to cover the mission more and mission results less, which is code for he hasn't updated his lecture over the years. The stardust probe completed its part of the mission in 2006, so many of these slides are a tad dusty. But he does in fact work his way to good results.  

  • At 17:30 a good 'dust-ballistics' reference.
  • The slide at 21:30 and the next few are good resources. Turns out smoother comets have been around the sun more often.
  • At 29:20 we finally get a look at some results. Aerogel busted up the frail comet dust. 
  • At 32:25 we get a beautiful dust grain sample with three distinct textures. 
  • Pretty much everything up to the summary at 41:40 is golden, actual mission results, well presented. Sandford apparently has a talent for under-selling.
This LPI was a happy surprise. I went into it starved for what it actually contained. Missions like Bepi and Stardust are a new thing, and have a new feel to the accompanying lectures. The emphasis on particulates is fulfilling especially because it applies elsewhere. Think, if you cut out a block of Callisto, would you expect it would be homogeneous?    

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