Message from John Bradley, Director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at LLNL. 1/18/06

Greetings from Houston
Last night we opened the STARDUST sample return capsule (SRC) in the cleanroom facility here at JSC. We immediately observed largely intact aerogel cells looking exactly like they appeared when they were inserted into the SRC back in 1999. Then we observed with the naked eye hundreds of particle impact tracks in the aerogel cells. We can even see the (black) cometary particles within tracks.  I saw one ~4 mm crater in an aerogel cell that is lined with black particulates. A lot of this material can be simply hand picked using a glass or tungsden needle. There are also lots of ~mm sized aerogel fragments (of cells) sitting on the base plate of the SRC. These fragments also contain multiple impact tracks and they will be easy pickings for rapid harvesting of "treasure" by anyone with a steady hand. My guess is that carbonaceous matter is a major component of the collected cometary material. Whether it is organic and how well it may have survived hypervelocity impact will emerge as important questions.

The Stardust mission has been a stunning success, far exceeding even our most optimistic expectations. Now we begin the arduous task of photo-documentation, followed by years of great science. Below is a series of images that capture the spirit of the occasion.

Below is a set of images (through focus series) of an impact track in Stardust aerogel. The original projectile from the comet was likely an extremely fragile object that shattered on impact and broke into hundreds and possibly thousands of smaller pieces . There a transparent, birefringent crystal at the terminus of the track. The dark coloration is suggestive of although not unique to carbonaceous matter. (Photos by K. Messenger, JSC).