Aster › Space program › 81P/Wild 2
81P/Wild 2
Position on the route: 26/130 · level needed 72 · journey (Mk0 engine) 12.1 h
By the numbers
| Nucleus | ≈ 4 km |
|---|---|
| Year | 6.4 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.45 AU |
| Stardust | 2004–2006 |
The story
Wild 2 is a Jupiter-family comet found by Paul Wild in 1978. In 1974 Jupiter’s gravity bent its orbit sunwards; that is why it is still ‘fresh’. NASA’s Stardust flew through its coma at 240 km in January 2004 and caught the dust in aerogel.
The capsule landed in Utah on 15 January 2006: the first sample of a comet brought to Earth. It contained glycine and minerals formed at high temperature, so some of the comet’s material had been born close to the Sun and carried out to the outer system.
Missions
- Stardust (NASA, 1999–2006): brought a sample home
Colony note
Ice, ammonia and organics; a temporary landing point.
What probes bring back
- Stardust (2004) flew through Wild 2’s coma and caught dust in aerogel; the capsule landed on 15 January 2006: the first sample of a comet.
- The sample contained glycine and minerals formed at high temperature: comet material was born near the Sun and carried to the outer system.