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STARDUST and HAYABUSA: Sample Return Missions to Small Bodies in the Solar SystemThere are currently two active spacecraft missions designed to return samples to Earth from small bodies in our Solar System. STARDUST will return samples from the comet Wild 2, and HAYABUSA will return samples from the asteroid Itokawa. On January 3,2004, the STARDUST spacecraft made the closest ever flyby (236 km) of the nucleus of a comet - Comet Wild 2. During the flyby the spacecraft collected samples of dust from the coma of the comet. These samples will be returned to Earth on January 15,2006. After a brief preliminary examination to establish the nature of the returned samples, they will be made available to the general scientific community for study. The HAYABUSA spacecraft arrived at the Near Earth Asteroid Itokawa in September 2005 and is currently involved in taking remote sensing data from the asteroid. Several practice landings have been made and a sample collection landing will be made soon. The collected sample will be returned to Earth in June 2007. During my talk I will discuss the scientific goals of the STARDUST and HAYABUSA missions and provide an overview of their designs and flights to date. I will also show some of the exciting data returned by these spacecraft during their encounters with their target objects.
Document ID
20060015640
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Sandford, S. A.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2005
Subject Category
Space Sciences (General)
Funding Number(s)
OTHER: 767.04.02.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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