As the return of the Stardust cometary samples approaches, it's encouraging to learn of a Stardust-related project with interstellar implications. Stardust@Home is an Internet-based search for interstellar dust in the Stardust materials, one that relies, like SETI@Home before it, on the combined computing resources of those who volunteer to assist. Unlike the latter project, however, Stardust@Home requires a Web-based training session and subsequent test, after which those who pass will be able to download a virtual microscope and images from the Stardust collector. It will take personal scrutiny rather than just computing cycles to try to locate interstellar materials. Although most attention has focused on Stardust's cometary samples, its aerogel collector was also designed to catch the first interstellar dust ever collected. The number of dust grains found may number in the low dozens, but even one would be a breakthrough, marking the first time such materials were studied in a...

The return of the Stardust mission draws near. The spacecraft should jettison its return capsule around 5 AM EST on January 15; the latter is to plunge into Earth's atmosphere at the highest return speed ever recorded, some 29,000 miles per hour. A parachute will bring the capsule to the ground at the Utah Testing and Training Range southwest of Salt Lake City, and at that point we should have our first samples of primordial cometary dust, captured two years ago near Comet Wild 2. Even more intriguing, we should have particles of interstellar dust collected during the long approach to the comet. This has been a remarkable mission, and at times a scary one. Stardust was launched in February of 1999 and began collecting interstellar dust in 2000. 2.88 billion miles have accumulated during this voyage, including a gravity assist from Earth and an encounter with asteroid 5535 Annefrank. In November of 2000, a vast solar flare skewed the spacecraft's navigation system by creating false...