[meteorite-list] NASA Astrophycist To Discuss Stardust Comet Sample-Return Mission

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:09 2004
Message-ID: <200304181543.IAA06476_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2003/03_28AR.html

Kathleen Burton April 17, 2003
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-1731 or 650/604-9000
E-mail: kburton_at_mail.arc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 03-28AR

NOTE TO EDITORS AND NEWS DIRECTORS: Members of the news media and
public are invited to attend the fifth talk in this year's 2002-2003
Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, to be held on Wednesday,
April 23, at 7 p.m. PDT at Foothill College's Smithwick Theater, Los
Altos Hills, Calif. More information is available by calling the
series hotline at 650/949-7888.

NASA ASTROPHYCIST TO DISCUSS STARDUST COMET SAMPLE-RETURN MISSION

Humanity' first opportunity to study the original material from which
our solar system was built will be the subject of a free public
lecture at Foothill College on Wednesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. PDT. The
talk is entitled "The Stardust Mission: Bringing Home a Comet."

Stardust mission co-investigator Dr. Scott Sandford of NASA Ames
Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley, will
describe the sample-return mission to a comet. Launched in 1999, the
mission will rendezvous with a comet in 2004 and return samples of
cometary dust to Earth in 2006. The Stardust mission is the first
return of a sample from outside the Earth's moon system.

"NASA Ames is pleased to co-sponsor the popular Silicon Valley
Astronomy Lecture Series, which exemplifies excellence in science
outreach," said NASA Ames Research Center Director G. Scott Hubbard.
"This is one important element of our efforts to inspire the next
generation of space explorers."

Sandford is a renowned expert in the field of meteoritics, the study
of rocks that fall from space. He has helped discover a number of
such rocks in Antarctica. Among his other scientific interests is
the study of molecules in clouds of interstellar dust from which new
stars and planets form.

This is the fourth year of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture
Series, which is co-sponsored by NASA Ames, Foothill College's
Division of Physical Science, Mathematics and Engineering, the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the SETI Institute.

The lecture series is held at Foothill College's Smithwick Theater in
Los Altos Hills. From Interstate 280, exit at El Monte Road and
travel west to the campus. Visitors must purchase a one-day
campus-parking permit for $2. Seating is on a first-come,
first-served basis. Young people over the age of 13 are welcome. More
information is available by calling the series hotline at
650/949-7888.

For more information about the Stardust mission, visit:
         http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/

-end-
Received on Fri 18 Apr 2003 11:43:09 AM PDT