Stardust mission: email update from NASA scientist Scott Sandford

Here's the latest in a series of emails from NASA Stardust investigator Scott Sandford. Along with cool details about what he and other NASA scientists are finding inside the canister, Scott says today "I am wearing a dark blue shirt today. If I go into the clean room you may be able to see it [on the webcam] through the clean room garb."

Full text of Dr. Sandford's latest update:

Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 06:03:49 -0800
From: Scott Sandford
Subject: A short progress note…

Hi All,

Sorry I didn't send anything yesterday, but I didn't have access to the Internet. I think I already gave you the gist of our progress on Saturday – multiple Al
(aluminum) foils successfully cut, and two aerogel cell(s) pulled from the tray.

Just as we were packing up the tray for the day, we spotted a largish particle that had just grazed the corner of one of the support ribs in the tray. The resulting spray of particles and vapor ricocheted at an angle into the adjacent aerogel block. The overall appearance of the impact is pretty cool, but it is unclear how much useful particle was captured by the aerogel. Most of the ejecta is probably aluminum and the original particle material will have been strongly heated during the initial impact with the frame.

We are now seeing impact craters in the foils. The foils are in a little worse shape than we had anticipated, and we are still working to find the best way to illuminate them for photography. This isn't a key issue, however, since the final word on imaging most of the craters in the foils will come from examinations made using electron microscopes.

On Saturday I helped put away the collector tray into the N2 purged cabinet where it is stored when we aren't working on it. It is an exhilarating/frightening/humbling thing to carry the tray. You have the hopes and aspirations of hundreds of people in your hands, not to mention the results of the time and money spent on the Stardust mission. Needless to say I was VERY careful when I moved it!

In a few minutes we meet to discuss today's activities. I suspect we will (be doing) '"Level 3" photography of the two removed cells (microscopic photography from the side of the cell) and "Level 3"
photography of some additional cells in preparation for their removal. A few particles have been pulled from the small aerogel chips Mike Z (Zolensky) and I removed from the avionics deck the day after the canister was opened, and they are currently being prepared for analysis. One particle was potted in epoxy in preparation for being ultra-microtomed (sliced into thin sections amenable to a variety of different types of analysis).

Cheers!

Scott