The Sound of Comet Dust Hitting Stardust Probe
Department:
Space Missions
Teaser:
"NASA has released a cool sound track of the sounds of thousands of cometary dust particles pelting Stardust-NExT."
Source:
Universe Today Download time: Feb 24 2011 7:52 AM ET
As Stardust-Next was racing past Comet Tempel at 9.8 km/sec, or 24,000 MPH, it encountered a hail of bullet like particles akin to a warplane meeting the fury of armed resistance fighters which potentially could have utterly destroyed the probe.
NASA has released a cool sound track of the sounds of thousands of cometary dust particles pelting Stardust-NExT. The audio was recorded by an instrument aboard the spacecraft called the Dust Flux Monitor which measures sound waves and electrical pulses from dust impacts.
Telemetry downlinked after the Feb. 14 flyby indicates the spacecraft flew through waves of disintegrating cometary particles.
"The data indicate Stardust went through something similar to a B-17 bomber flying through flak in World War II," says Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator from the University of Washington in Seattle.…
