Precious cargo
The Stardust capsule returns to Earth in January 2006. On the long journey back from the comet, the precious evidence has been carefully locked away in a super-hi-tech material called aerogel.
Aerogel is a special kind of glass, so light that it almost floats in air. Each microscopic grain of comet dust is carefully surrounded and cushioned, so it gets back to Earth in pristine condition.
| 
The amazing space-age material aerogel.
Image: NASA/JPL |
|
