[meteorite-list] Stardust Sprinkled Over NASA Astrobiology Conference

[Ron Baalke]

Jonas Dino
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 
Phone: (650) 207-3280/604-9000
E-mail: jonas.dino at nasa.gov

RELEASE: 06-19AR
March 29, 2006

STARDUST SPRINKLED OVER NASA ASTROBIOLOGY CONFERENCE

NASA's Stardust mission has energized the scientific community with 
new insights into comets and the formation of the solar system.

On Thursday, March 30, Dr. Scott Sandford, NASA scientist and 
Stardust co-investigator, will update Stardust developments at the 
NASA Astrobiology Science Conference, at the Ronald Reagan Building 
and International Trade Center, Washington. The plenary session is 
from 8:30 to 9:10 a.m. EST in the Reagan amphitheater.

"Preliminary examinations indicate that the Stardust mission is a 
great success," said Sandford. "It is clear that the mission returned 
cometary materials in the form of minerals, and we are finding 
organic materials associated with the grains."

"While it remains to be proven that these organics are of cometary 
origin, we are highly encouraged by the analyses thus far, and 
further analyses may revolutionize our understanding of these 
important and primitive materials," he added.

Launched February 7, 1999, the spacecraft's sample capsule 
successfully returned on January 15, 2006. Samples have been 
distributed to about 150 scientists around the world for study.

For more information about AbSciCon 2006, visit:

http://abscicon.arc.nasa.gov/

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