Don Brownlee
Don Brownlee
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.
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.
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.
believe billion coming materials
We believe materials coming out of comets now is the same material that went into comets 4.5 billion years ago.
analyze atomic people single
People all over world will be able to analyze them down to a single atomic scale.
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.
blow button felt finger guy vehicle verge
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.
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.
grabbed landed piece visited
We visited a comet, grabbed a piece of it, and landed here this morning. It was a real thrill.
comet features incredible oddly saw seen solar steep stunned system
We were stunned when we got to the comet and saw incredible features - steep cliffs, overhanging cliffs, spires and many features which, oddly enough, we had never been seen on other Solar System bodies.
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.
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.
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.
fantastic quite
We are nearing the end of quite a fantastic voyage.