Donald Brownlee
Donald Brownlee
Donald Eugene Brownleeis a professor of astronomy at the University of Washingtonand the principal investigator for NASA's Stardust mission. His primary research interests include astrobiology, comets, and cosmic dust. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada...
far unique wild
So far, as far as we know Wild 2 is a unique object.
almost cut grain main particle worked
It's not much, but still it's so much that we're almost overwhelmed. The first grain we worked on, we haven't even cut into the main part of the particle yet.
ended might standing
They always ended up with a rigid, crusty material. If you were standing on it you might go right through it.
certain cold formed inside materials
It's certain such materials never formed inside this icy, cold body.
ability jumping totally
That's why we were jumping up and down. We were totally overwhelmed by the ability to actually see this.
apart coming
It's coming apart under the heating of the sun.
fire found remarkably
Remarkably enough, we have found fire and ice.
contain discussion lots minerals whether
Scientifically, that's great, because there's been lots of discussion of whether comets contain minerals or glass.
edge exciting quite solar
It is quite exciting to find these things at the edge of the solar system.
billion cosmic edge formed solar system treasure
Its cargo was an ancient, cosmic treasure from the very edge of the solar system ? a treasure that formed when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.
ground ideas might people theories
For all the ideas and theories that people might have, we have some real ground truth.
record tiny
Comets are like libraries, storing the record of our formation in tiny particles.
either extremely formed found high minerals samples solar
In the coldest part of the solar system, we've found samples that have formed at extremely high temperatures. When these minerals formed, they were either red-hot or white-hot grains.
absolutely bad either exceeded fully happened none point remarkable space successful totally wildest wrong
At this point in time, we're absolutely thrilled. It's totally remarkable to have a fully successful mission. Of all the things that could go wrong either in space or even scientifically, none of the bad things happened and everything really exceeded our wildest expectations.