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FW: A e r o g e l

Hello List,

Professor Don Brownlee (of Brownlee particle fame), Stardust Mission Principal Investigator, recently gave a lecture at the University of Washington on the mission.  He had some samples of aerogel -- which was nearly invisible to the naked eye.  If you placed a sample down on the table, you would lose it.  Yet, this clear, stringy, spongy material was amazingly strong.  He explained that this material has been around for some time, and that it was ideal for the Mission's plan to catch dust from the tail of a comet.  The spacecraft is built from black corrugated sheet stock of a composite material (much like a cardboard box) - very light, but very strong.  There is some risk that small impacts could damage the spacecraft which is not designed to withstand a serious hit by a small object.  I was impressed by the "faster and cheaper" approach of using off the shelf materials and technology to put this spacecraft together.  Brownlee also showed a new JPL video on the Stardust Mission that was very well done (the computer-generated graphics were incredible).  This will be a great mission to follow...

Steve

********************************
Steven Excell
Paragon
1100 Olive Way, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98101-1839
Phone: 206-621-1300
Fax:     206-621-1158
E-Mail: excell@concentric.net
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-----Original Message-----
From:	Bernd Pauli [SMTP:bernd.pauli@lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de]
Sent:	Wednesday, May 27, 1998 2:24 PM
To:	meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Subject:	A e r o g e l

Ron wrote:

> we're having a raffle to give away free samples of aerogel (really
> weird but cool stuff).

Michael wrote:

> Dear Ron, Please explain to us what "aerogel" is. Thanks, Michael.

Random House Webster's:  a e r o g e l

a gel formed by the dispersion of air in a solidified matrix; a solid
foam, as Styrofoam.

Best wishes, Bernd