Once it gets there it opens up two covers and deploys high purity materials which are then used to collect the solar wind one atom at a time.

I needed to be in the bush. There I find solitude and beauty and purity and focus. That's where my heart lies.

The chemical and isotopic composition of the sun is the starting composition from which all planets formed.

In principle, we might be able to do everything we started out to do.

There are three kinds of solar wind. The spacecraft was able to move the collection panels in and out to get data from different types. We've already analyzed noble gases [helium, neon and argon], as they are not too sensitive to this type of contamination. We want to measure the ratios of isotopes of elements from the Sun's surface, and we now have direct data. We're getting interesting and important results even at this early stage.

We expected to have 250 samples. Now, we have 15,000 pieces to work with.