Is CIDA mis-calibrated?
This is the suggestion of Don Brownlee, science director for the Stardust Mission. If so, there is reason to doubt the astonishing result of two years ago, when the German team managing the mass spectrometer aboard Stardust reported the detection of interstellar particles with molecules of 2000 atomic masses. Brownlee says that the calibration can be checked in 2004, when Stardust reaches comet Wild-2, where the nature of the particles is already presumed. If the instrument is not mis-calibrated, we hope the detection of large organic polymers in interstellar dust particles finally gets proper notice. [Thanks, Don Brownlee.] …Properties of Interstellar Dust… is the related CA webpage. CIDA miscalibrated? — Kissel replies, 4 Nov 2002. 33rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 11-15 Mar 2002. Preliminary Program in PDF with menu logic from program to sessions to abstracts. March 11: Tardigrades in space? — Students in the NASA Student Involvement Program have proposed a project to
