[meteorite-list] Photos

From: Michael L Blood <mlblood_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Jan 16 22:52:50 2006
Message-ID: <BFF1AA05.274BC%mlblood_at_cox.net>

Hi Ron,
        Since I have written you off list twice and haven't received
any response at all, I am wondering if you don't receive email
at the station from which you post. I assume you would have at
least said "no," if you were getting my emails... (and hopefully, yes).
        Anyway, I have had several people ask me about seeing your
photo. Clearly, you are a major character on the meteorite list
and I am sure many in the community would like to associate
a person with your name, not just those that have specifically
asked me.
        Please let me know yes or no. I have a photo of you, but it
is a group photo from the Stardust site and I cannot get anything
of just you without it being quite grainy. So, if you do consent
to having your photo up, perhaps you could send me one with
higher pixel count. If not, just please let me know so I at least
know you have received the request.
        Thanks a bunch, Michael


on 1/16/06 12:02 AM, Ron Baalke at baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov wrote:

>
> http://space.com/missionlaunches/060115_stardust_postlanding.html
>
> Stardust Capsule: Safe Landing, Now The Science
> By Leonard David
> space.com
> 15 January 2006
>
> Scientists and engineers are ecstatic with the landing and
> overall condition of the Stardust sample return capsule recovered today
> in Utah after a 2.9 billion mile round-trip space voyage.
>
> A bit of luck also played a part too.
>
> "This thing went like clockwork," said Tom Duxbury, Stardust project
> manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena,
> California at a post-landing press briefing held today at a command
> conference room at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.
>
> Duxbury said that the capsule's Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR)
> touch down involved some element of luck. The area was experiencing a
> big storm as the capsule raced toward its pre-determined, pre-dawn
> desert landing zone.
>
> "There was a window in that storm - we came right through that window,"
> Duxbury said.
>
> Wind drift
>
> While still within a large landing ellipse, storm winds caused the
> parachute-dangling capsule to drift more north than had been predicted.
> The capsule was on its main parachute for some six minutes before
> touching ground.
>
> "It took a bit of time to go find it," said Joe Vellinga, Deputy
> Recovery Operations Manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.
> He said that the sample return capsule tumbled across the desert
> landscape on landing, represented by five marks on the ground.
>
> "There's a little bit of mud on the [capsule's] nose - it looks to be in
> absolutely excellent condition," Vellinga told reporters.
>
> Recovery teams found the detached parachute a few feet away. Sitting on
> its side, the apparently none the worse for wear capsule "didn't even
> work up a sweat," Duxbury noted.
>
> Collected works
>
> The small capsule was double-bagged by ground teams and moved to a
> special clean room within the UTTR.
>
> Work is now underway to remove a canister from within the landed
> capsule, said Don Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator from the
> University of Washington, Seattle.
>
> Stardust's collected works - miniscule specimens of interstellar dust and
> comet particles snagged during its seven-year trek - are contained within
> that canister.
>
> Once the canister is removed it will be shipped to a special laboratory
> at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. At JSC, the
> canister will be opened and a collector grid will be removed to begin
> surveying how many cometary and interstellar samples have been caught
> and brought back to Earth.
>
> Brownlee said "opening day" for the canister at JSC is this coming
> Tuesday. Some 150 researchers from around the world are ready to carry
> out preliminary looks at the returned samples, he said.
>
> "Over the coming weeks, months and years, I hope you'll be hearing a lot
> about this - a lot of new information from the samples," Brownlee added.
>
> Mighty little spacecraft
>
> Meanwhile, still up in space, is the Stardust "mother craft" that
> successfully ejected the sample return capsule.
>
> "Our mighty little spacecraft is still out there," said JPL's Duxbury.
> "This thing is still alive and well. It may have a future life as well,"
> and is capable of further exploration of comets and asteroids, he said.
>
> Mission controllers have placed the spacecraft into a "divert
> maneuver" - to keep the hardware from hitting Earth. It has been put on an
> orbit around the Sun.
>
> After nearly seven years of space travel, the solar-powered Stardust and
> onboard gear - including an operational navigation camera - have weathered
> well. An expected 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of fuel should be left
> onboard after the divert maneuver.
>
> "NASA has no current plans for an extended mission," said Tom Morgan,
> Stardust Program Scientist and Executive at NASA Headquarters in
> Washington, D.C. However, individuals who wish to propose post-return
> uses for the spacecraft to NASA may submit a proposal for the use of the
> spacecraft in response to the current Discovery Announcement of
> Opportunity, a document released on January 3, 2006, Morgan told
> SPACE.com via email.
>
> "If NASA declines to accept any of these proposals - or if none are
> submitted - the spacecraft will be decommissioned," Morgan said.
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"He is not a lover who does not love forever." - Euripides (485-406BC)

Received on Mon 16 Jan 2006 10:52:37 PM PST