Stardust program

The Stardust program was a NASA mission launched in 1999 to collect samples of dust from the comet Wild 2 and interstellar space. It used a specially designed collector made of aerogel, a lightweight, glass-like material, to capture particles without damaging them. After gathering dust in 2004, Stardust returned these samples to Earth in 2006. Scientists study these particles to learn about the early solar system and the origins of comets and cosmic material, providing insights into the building blocks of planets and our solar neighborhood.