Stardust Sample Catalog: Preliminary Examination of Comet Wild 2 Samples

The Stardust Sample Catalog summarizes samples examined by the Preliminary Examination Team of the Stardust Mission to comet Wild 2. It provides detailed information on samples removed from the collection tray and those remaining in aerogel, serving as a guide for allocation to the planetary science community. The catalog is maintained by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Requesting specific physical samples for laboratory analysis based on the detailed sample descriptions.
• Planning comparative studies between 'examined' and 'fresher' samples based on the catalog's status information.
• Understanding the distribution and types of materials collected from comet Wild 2 for mission science synthesis.

Strengths

• Provides very detailed information about samples removed from the sample tray, as stated in the description.
• Includes enough detail about samples still in aerogel to allow requests for 'fresher' samples.
• Serves as a preliminary guide for sample allocation from a major NASA space mission.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is presented in HTML format, which may complicate structured analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Analysis of physical samples collected by the Stardust mission spacecraft.

Time Range

Covers the period of the Stardust mission's Preliminary Examination.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:31:41.885681; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Samples originate from comet Wild 2 (81P/Wild).