| .....Launched
on February 7, 1999, Stardust is the
first space mission dedicated solely to
studying a comet. For the first time
ever, comet dust and interstellar dust
particles will be collected during a
close encounter with Comet Wild 2 and
returned back to Earth for analysis by
scientists worldwide. .....For the Comet Wild 2 encounter,
the objective is to recover more than one
thousand particles larger than 15 microns
in diameter. Stardust will also spend 150
days collecting particles of interstellar
dust, including the recently discovered
dust streaming into the solar system from
the direction of Sagittarius. It is
believed that these materials consist of
ancient pre-solar interstellar grains
left over from the formation of the solar
system. Their analysis is expected to
yield important insights into the
evolution of the Sun and planets.
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