Is the real Space Dust under wraps?

I'm no space expert but I thought it was beyond odd that guys in the desert were retrieving the Space Dust shuttle with street clothes on. I'm sure everyone who saw that footage thought the same.

In the past few days, a well-known expert pondered the same on Coast to Coast (James McCanney). During the show, a regular contributor said he believed that the real Dust was retrieved while NASA "searched" for the shuttle and then replaced with a fake unit with fake dust. This, he theorized, was done to keep the private sector scientific community from ever getting it or any useful information about it.

EDIT: (I should add that the caller, not the expert, said that this was all part of a grander NASA/Illuminati conspiracy.)

This doesn't seem so strange as he wondered, "Why would a 12$ million dollar mission be retrieved by guys in streat clothes, only to have the device later entered into clean laboratories." And keep in mind that the retrieval footage was carried around the world. There was a significant amount of time (in hours) when live footage sort of blacked-out when the "search" for the vessel was underway. Wouldn't the vessel have a becon? Seems easy; fly a chopper to it which is what was done once the feed was picked up again.

I'd love to hear some ideas from those better informed than myself.

[edit on 21-1-2006 by 2nd Hand Thoughts]

I think the dust was contained inside it, so you don't need all these suits on to get it

Originally posted by JimmyCarterIsSmarter
I think the dust was contained inside it, so you don't need all these suits on to get it

Yep, whole sample collecting device used for capturing dust are was sealed air+heat tightly inside capsule, otherwise re-entrly would have destroyed any scientific value of those.

After capsule is taken to facility it was propably cleaned quite many times from outside...
They might open sample collectors itself inside some carefully cleaned vacuum chamber to prevent any kind of contamination.

My coworker once repositioned the hubble while in his PJs at home with the flu.

People get weird pictures of how things really work from fiction. The truth is, its a lot less flashy and lot more impressive.

I still don't get why NASA or affiliates on the job would be dressed like truck drivers or handymen (NO disrespect meant) for the world to see. Even fast-food workers wear uniforms. The suits come out for bomb threats and I suppose the capsule only just came from space... I mean, don't guys on the job at NASA wear some kind of uniform? It's such a big deal when there's a launch but I still can't wrap my head around this one.

A non-contaminated (by human hands, breath, etc.) capsule could potentially be remarkable as well couldn't it? Shouldn't that be preserved?

And isn't it theoretically possible that the outside of the capsule could still even be dangerous? Like Killer-space-lead? Even Boy Scouts are supposed to "Be Prepared". This was like an underattended scavenger hunt.

Do we think that there aren't other elements Out There? Some have already raised issues that we are contaminating Mars.

[edit on 23-1-2006 by 2nd Hand Thoughts]



[edit on 24-1-2006 by 2nd Hand Thoughts]

Originally posted by 2nd Hand Thoughts
I still don't get why NASA or affiliates on the job would be dressed like truck drivers or handymen (NO disrespect meant) for the world to see. Even fast-food workers wear uniforms.

Fast food chains don't have to defend their budget against military industrial complex+"more to the rich"-taxcutters... Neither they have to pay much to workers while NASA quite propably follows a least minimum wages.

A non-contaminated (by human hands, breath, etc.) capsule could potentially be remarkable as well couldn't it? Shouldn't that be preserved?

How? Outside of capsule gets contaminated at the moment when it enters earth's atmosphere.

And isn't it theoretically possible that the outside of the capsule could still even be dangerous? Like Killer-space-lead?

Sure, if there's anything which can withstand bombardment of continuous ionizing radiation ranging from solar wind's protons to very high energy cosmic rays emitted by supernovas.
And when capsule descends through atmosphere it's outer surface ablates, vaporizes absorbing heat and protecting what's inside it. So it could be said that outer layer of capsule has been burned away.

Originally posted by 2nd Hand Thoughts
I still don't get why NASA or affiliates on the job would be dressed like truck drivers or handymen (NO disrespect meant) for the world to see. Even fast-food workers wear uniforms. The suits come out for bomb threats and I suppose the capsule only just came from space

What do you expect them to where? Radiation suits? Space suits?

... I mean, don't guys on the job at NASA wear some kind of uniform?

Maybe a tie, usually just informal casual wear, no shorts, jeans, slacks, collar shirts, etc...

A non-contaminated (by human hands, breath, etc.) capsule could potentially be remarkable as well couldn't it? Shouldn't that be preserved?

The space dust was inside the capsule, they were not running chemical anaylsis with gas chromatographs or electron microscopes in the back of a van in a desert. They collected what they needed and dropped it off on a plane so it could be flown to JSC in Houston. And they were not looking to study the capsule itself.

And isn't it theoretically possible that the outside of the capsule could still even be dangerous? Like Killer-space-lead?

No, the capsule was not exposed the entire journey, it was released within a few hundred miles above the earth at most and more than likely most of the dangerous material it experienced while in the high atmosphere disassociated itself from the craft.

I appreciate all the sarcasm.

I did not expect space suits (I am aware that this is planet Earth we are on). Radiation suits maybe. Just in case. At the least it looks impressive. I wasn't aware that NASA is unable to afford matching attire. As if the StarDust project groups don't have matching hats or something. Racecar pit crews have uniforms and those cars don't cost 10+ million $.

In fairness to myself (as uninformed as I admitted to before), contamination by the atmosphere is not the same as human exhalation and so forth. Furthermore, given the fact that we have yet to understand the intracacies of our own planet's oceans or virul constructs, I do not think precautionary measures are unnecessary when dealing with outer-space exploratory instruments used to collect comet matter.

Sounds alot like you have been watching too much tv.

As has been explained before in this thread their is nothing that could survive on that capsule that could endanger those people coming into contact with it.

Those peopel were not in uniform was because they were not sitting at a desk pusing some pens. The were dressed for the conditions.

I'm kind of curious with this..
I went to an Exhibition called "Space" in the city I live in.. Had a whole IMAX film and the sort.. anyway.. In the gallery there was a partial meteorite which we were able to touch and there was also a piece of moon rock which was encased in glass.. The meteor was encased in glass but there were holes to stick your hands and fingers to touch it.. But as I said we were unable to touch the "Moon Rock" Im curious as to why

a reply to: 2nd Hand Thoughts

Here's the latest on what they found in NASA's Stardust Collector:

www.nrl.navy.mil...
U.S. NAVAL RESEARCH LAB SCIENTISTS PART OF INTERNATIONAL TEAM TO STUDY INTERSTELLAR PARTICLES
"The Stardust spacecraft returned to earth in 2006 and NASA then distributed the samples from both the cometary and interstellar dust collectors to scientists for further study.

"The foils analysis team, led by Dr. Stroud, identified four tiny craters, a few thousandths of the width of a human hair in size, which contained residue consistent with the impact of interstellar particles.

"At this point the team has determined that crystalline and multiple Fe-bearing phases are present in some of the particles. As a consequence, no single current model can explain all of the interstellar grains analyzed. Although the laboratory measurements and modeling indicate interstellar origin is most likely, an interplanetary origin for one or more of the particles is possible."

originally posted by: Ox
I'm kind of curious with this..
I went to an Exhibition called "Space" in the city I live in.. Had a whole IMAX film and the sort.. anyway.. In the gallery there was a partial meteorite which we were able to touch and there was also a piece of moon rock which was encased in glass.. The meteor was encased in glass but there were holes to stick your hands and fingers to touch it.. But as I said we were unable to touch the "Moon Rock" Im curious as to why

Probably because a moon rock is far more valuable than any meteorite. Meteorites fall to earth every day (generally speaking), while the moon rocks are unique artifacts since you can't just go and take another one whenever you feel like it.