Jan. 15 re-entry of Stardust probe to light up sky over Wendover

Several Utahns are planning to trek to Wendover, Nev., in the middle of the night of Jan. 14-15, not to try their chances at the gambling tables, but to watch for the dramatic re-entry of a spacecraft.

NASA's Stardust probe is on its last leg of a seven-year, 2.9-billion mile trip to gather grains of interstellar dust and material that blew off a comet named Wild 2. After the epoch journey, a 101-pound canister containing the samples will land at Dugway about 3 a.m. on Jan. 15.

Stardust has gone farther into the solar system than any other man-made object to return to Earth. On its way back, it will hit the atmosphere at 28,000 mph, so fast that its friction should make it burn brighter than the planet Venus.

Not only will the group be able to see it, if the weather allows, "but we should be able to hear it," said Patrick Wiggins, NASA solar system ambassador to Utah. "The thing will make a double sonic boom, I'm told, as it passes through the atmosphere."

He is tentatively planning to fly to the Wendover airport for the event and fly back afterwards. About four others have said they might drive there from the Wasatch Front.

The spacecraft's peak heating will happen when it is high in the atmosphere above the Carlin-Elko, Nev., area. But watchers somewhat east of there, such as in Wendover, might get a better view.

"The front of the spacecraft is going to be the brightest," he said. Someone at Elko, looking up, would be looking toward the center of the probe as it races from west to east. Wendover might provide a better look.

"If you are positioned such as to see the front of the spacecraft, you are going to have the best view," Wiggins said.

During a recent press conference, project planners indicated that if Stardust plows into Dugway's mud, as happened with the Genesis spacecraft in September 2004, it would not be because of the same glitch that marred Genesis.

Stardust was built on a similar design to Genesis, which had sampled solar wind particles and returned them to earth. It was supposed to glide toward ground beneath a parafoil and be captured in midair by a helicopter. But upon re-entry, the parachute failed to open and Genesis smashed into the western Utah desert.

The spacecraft cracked open and glass collector plates shattered and were contaminated with mud. However, scientists later said they were able to salvage some samples brought back by the $264 million project.