La poussiere cosmique

Abstract

Since the 1970s, dust has been collected in the terrestrial environment in the hope of studying dust particles witnessing the primordial protoplanetary nebula materials. In the 21th century, cometary dust was collected by the Stardust/NASA probe in the coma of comet 81P/Wild-2 and returned to Earth. Cometary dust was also analyzed in situ by Rosetta/ESA space mission in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko dust environment. A balloon borne instrument - DUSTER- collects micron-sized extraterrestrial dust in the upper stratosphere. Studying small dust particles provides big knowledge on our origins.