Letter From Paul Wild

This letter to the STARDUST project was received from Paul Wild who resides in Bern, Switzerland. Paul Wild discovered Comet Wild-2 in 1978. This letter will be placed on the microchip that will be carried on the STARDUST spacecraft to Comet Wild-2.

25K


     November 18, 1997 
     The Stardust Project

     Dear colleagues,

     It was my good luck that in January 1978 I discovered this comet,
     in the course of a nova search at Zimmerwald (near Berne, Switzerland).
     It is a suitable target for an encounter mission, firstly since until
     recently its orbit was much wider and therefore the pristine quality
     of its matter less degraded by the Sun's heat, and secondly since the
     low inclination of its present orbit makes it accessible with a 
     minimum of thrust energy.  I want to thank you for the energy of your
     planning and constructing, and I wish, of course, the mission full 
     success.  If my life span is more than eighty years, I would greatly
     like to witness the happy return of the precious dust and to inspect
     at close range a wee bit of what I first spied from very far.

                        With kind regards,

   
                        Paul Wild

Letter From Paul Wild

See also a letter from Fred Whipple