Stardust Spacecraft Grabs First Interstellar Dust Specks

A NASA spacecraft dispatched 15 years ago to collect samples from a comet also snared what scientists suspect are the first dust specks from interstellar space. The Stardust robotic spacecraft was launched in 1999 to fly by a comet and collect samples from Comet Wild 2 and parachute them back to Earth in 2006. Before reaching the comet, the spacecraft also twice opened a collection tray to fish for particles that may have come into the solar system from interstellar space. Now, after a...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - jeudi 14 août 2014