Don Brownlee
Don Brownlee
fantastic quite
We are nearing the end of quite a fantastic voyage.
features incredible saw seen solar steep system
We saw incredible features -- steep cliffs, overhanging cliffs, spires and many other things we had never seen on other solar system bodies.
fantastic quite
We are approaching the end of a quite fantastic voyage.
ability comet dust history jumping people planet quickly totally
We were jumping up and down ? we were totally overwhelmed by the ability to see this so quickly and so straightforwardly. We were the first people in the history of the planet to see comet dust in hand.
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.
captured exploded until
We didn't really know until now if we had captured them. For all we knew, they could have just exploded on impact.
basic bring collect comet earth material mission primary purpose solar stardust
The primary purpose of the Stardust mission was to collect comet dust, the most basic material of the solar system, and bring it back to Earth for study.
ancient collecting literally older reaching solar
We're collecting things that are very ancient and even older than our solar system. We are literally reaching for the stars.
starting work
We're just starting to work on this ... it will take years to analyze.
boards columbia cultural genesis heavy level required review scrutiny shift undergone understand
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.
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.
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.
comet delivered exciting opening seeing
The real exciting thing will be opening the canister and seeing what the comet delivered to us.
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.