Donald Brownlee Quotes (24 Quotes)

We have always stressed in this mission that we are stardust. Our planet and even our selves have a direct relationship to the particles we brought back.

We were totally overwhelmed by the ability to actually see this so quickly and so straightforwardly.

So far, as far as we know Wild 2 is a unique object.

Were using this comet as a library that picked up records and stored them far from the sun at very low temperatures for 4.5 billion years.

We're seeing a variety of things that we know absolutely come from a comet.

That's why we were jumping up and down. We were totally overwhelmed by the ability to actually see this.

At this point in time, we're absolutely thrilled. It's totally remarkable to have a fully successful mission. Of all the things that could go wrong either in space or even scientifically, none of the bad things happened and everything really exceeded our wildest expectations.

When you have the samples in hand, it's a whole different universe.

We're approaching the end of a fantastic voyage. This is the farthest anything from Earth has traveled and come back. Soon we'll be able to examine the building blocks that formed the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.

The community is real jazzed about it. People all over the world, using all kinds of fantastic instruments and new techniques, are ready. We've got the best people signed up to do the analyses,

It's certain such materials never formed inside this icy, cold body.

This was our first view of the comet dust. We are the first people in the history of the planet to see comet dust.

Scientifically, that's great, because there's been lots of discussion of whether comets contain minerals or glass.

The prediction was that we would get a dozen particles larger than human hair size and one particle a little bit larger than a millimeter.

Virtually all of the atoms in our bodies and in the Earth were in interstellar grains - stardust grains - before the solar system formed. We're using this comet as a library that picked up records of the formation of our solar system, and has been storing them far from the sun at very low temperatures for four and a half billion years.

For all the ideas and theories that people might have, we have some real ground truth.

I fully expect that textbooks in the future will have a lot of information about the formation of the solar system from these samples that landed this morning in Utah.

We were having a great time. We were really excited, and this did not go on for five minutes. It went on all day.

Its cargo was an ancient, cosmic treasure from the very edge of the solar system a treasure that formed when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.

Last Sunday, after seven years in space traveling nearly three billion miles, Stardust landed in the Great Salt Lake Desert with a treasure from when the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago. We should have more than one million particles larger than one micron in diameter.

We opened the capsule yesterday and it's just full of comet dust.

It's really quite an epic thing. I think it tends to get overlooked because it's just a little mission, and there aren't any people on board.

Previous research in Europe may provide the answer. Scientists made artificial comets of finely powdered organic materials and ice in a vacuum. They always ended up with a rigid, crusty material, ... If you were standing on it you might go right through it.

There's almost no gravity at the surface. If you were standing on the surface, you could jump into orbit.