infocus #12 December 2008 Stardust Cometary Samples

The journey from outer space to electron microscope.

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.38

Comets are thought to contain very primitive and interstellar materials that accreted in the cold outer-reaches of the Solar System. To investigate these theories, the NASA Stardust mission was planned to collect cometary dust and return it to Earth for laboratory analysis. The comet 81P/Wild 2 was chosen as the target because it is a newcomer to the inner Solar System, and thought to be relatively pristine. It was transferred into its current orbit in 1974, through interactions with Jupiter - making it a Jupiter-family comet.

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Author

Carolyn H. van der Bogert

Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany

Dr. Carolyn van der Bogert is a planetary geologist and research scientist at the Institut für Planetologie at the Westfälische WilhelmsUniversität in Münster, Germany. She currently studies Stardust cometary particles using transmission electron microscopy. She received her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences at Brown University in Providence, USA in 2004. Her dissertation focused on high strain-rate deformation as an impact cratering process, which she explored through axial welding experiments on ordinary chondrite meteorites and common terrestrial rocks. These were analyzed using a variety of techniques, including electron microprobe, transmission electron microscopy, and reflectance spectroscopy. She was the recipient of a NASA/Rhode Island Space Grant Fellowship, a NASA Graduate Student Research Fellowship, the Charles Wilson Brown Dissertation Fellowship, a Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship, and the Stephen E. Dwornik Planetary Geoscience Student Paper Award