NASA Stardust mission
E654375
The NASA Stardust mission was a space probe launched to collect and return samples from the coma of comet Wild 2 and interstellar dust to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| NASA Stardust mission canonical | 1 |
| Stardust comet sample return (2006 Earth reentry) | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7271911 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: NASA Stardust mission Context triple: [Donald Brownlee, affiliation, NASA Stardust mission]
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A.
Nomad space probe
The Nomad space probe is a fictional, highly advanced robotic spacecraft from the Star Trek universe that becomes a powerful and dangerous hybrid entity after merging with an alien probe.
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B.
OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission
The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission is a NASA spacecraft project that traveled to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, collected surface material, and returned the samples to Earth for scientific study.
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C.
NASA Mass Change mission
The NASA Mass Change mission is a planned Earth System Observatory satellite focused on precisely measuring variations in Earth’s mass distribution, such as changes in ice sheets, groundwater, and oceans, to improve understanding of climate and water cycle dynamics.
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D.
Dawn mission
The Dawn mission was a NASA space probe that studied the two largest bodies in the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, to investigate the conditions and processes of the early solar system.
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E.
NASA spacecraft
NASA spacecraft are robotic or crewed vehicles designed, built, and operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration for space exploration, scientific research, and technology demonstration beyond Earth's atmosphere.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: NASA Stardust mission Target entity description: The NASA Stardust mission was a space probe launched to collect and return samples from the coma of comet Wild 2 and interstellar dust to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.
-
A.
Nomad space probe
The Nomad space probe is a fictional, highly advanced robotic spacecraft from the Star Trek universe that becomes a powerful and dangerous hybrid entity after merging with an alien probe.
-
B.
OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission
The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission is a NASA spacecraft project that traveled to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, collected surface material, and returned the samples to Earth for scientific study.
-
C.
NASA Mass Change mission
The NASA Mass Change mission is a planned Earth System Observatory satellite focused on precisely measuring variations in Earth’s mass distribution, such as changes in ice sheets, groundwater, and oceans, to improve understanding of climate and water cycle dynamics.
-
D.
Dawn mission
The Dawn mission was a NASA space probe that studied the two largest bodies in the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, to investigate the conditions and processes of the early solar system.
-
E.
NASA spacecraft
NASA spacecraft are robotic or crewed vehicles designed, built, and operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration for space exploration, scientific research, and technology demonstration beyond Earth's atmosphere.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
NASA space probe
ⓘ
sample-return mission ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | Stardust (spacecraft) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| closestApproachDistanceToWild2 | about 240 kilometers ⓘ |
| cometEncounterDate | 2004-01-02 ⓘ |
| communicationBand | X-band ⓘ |
| endOfMission | 2011-03-24 ⓘ |
| endOfMissionEvent | spacecraft commanded to shut down ⓘ |
| extendedMissionEncounterDate | 2011-02-14 ⓘ |
| extendedMissionTarget | Comet Tempel 1 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| firsts |
first mission to return samples from a comet to Earth
ⓘ
first use of aerogel to capture high-velocity particles in space ⓘ |
| launchDate | 1999-02-07 ⓘ |
| launchSite | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17A NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| launchVehicle | Delta II 7426 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| massAtLaunch | about 385 kilograms ⓘ |
| missionCost | approximately 300 million US dollars ⓘ |
| missionDuration | about 12 years ⓘ |
| missionPhase |
comet flyby and sample collection
ⓘ
cruise to Comet Wild 2 ⓘ extended mission as Stardust-NExT ⓘ sample return to Earth ⓘ |
| missionType |
comet sample-return mission
ⓘ
interstellar dust collection mission ⓘ |
| operator | NASA ⓘ |
| powerSource | solar panels ⓘ |
| primaryTarget | Comet Wild 2 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| principalInvestigator | Donald E. Brownlee NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| program | NASA Discovery Program NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| projectScientist | Donald E. Brownlee NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| reentryCharacteristic | one of the fastest Earth reentries of a human-made object ⓘ |
| reentrySpeed | about 12.9 kilometers per second ⓘ |
| sampleCollectionMedium | aerogel ⓘ |
| sampleCollectionMethod | fly-through of comet coma ⓘ |
| sampleReturnCapsuleLandingRegion | Utah, United States NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| sampleReturnCapsuleLandingSite | Utah Test and Training Range NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| sampleReturnCapsuleType | Earth reentry capsule ⓘ |
| sampleReturnDate | 2006-01-15 ⓘ |
| sampleType |
cometary dust
ⓘ
interstellar dust ⓘ |
| scienceObjective |
collect interstellar dust particles
ⓘ
collect samples from the coma of Comet Wild 2 ⓘ investigate interstellar dust properties ⓘ return extraterrestrial samples to Earth for laboratory analysis ⓘ study composition and structure of cometary material ⓘ |
| scientificOutcome |
detection of complex organic compounds in cometary samples
ⓘ
evidence that cometary material formed in the inner solar system and was transported outward ⓘ |
| spacecraftManufacturer | Lockheed Martin Astronautics NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| trajectory | flyby of Comet Wild 2 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: NASA Stardust mission Description of subject: The NASA Stardust mission was a space probe launched to collect and return samples from the coma of comet Wild 2 and interstellar dust to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Stardust comet sample return (2006 Earth reentry)