Guidelines for Preparing a Stratospheric Dust Sample Request

All sample requests should be made in writing to:

Curator/Cosmic Dust
Mail Code KT
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
2101 NASA Parkway
Houston, Texas 77058-3696 USA

Information may be obtained by telephone via (281) 483-5128.

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Each request should refer to specific samples by their official identification numbers and should contain enough information to permit evaluation of the proposed study and the adequacy of the requestor's facilities. All necessary information should probably be condensable into a one- or two-page letter, although informative attachments (e.g., copies of pages from related proposals, reprints of publications, flow diagrams for analyses) are welcome. In addition, a brief statement regarding the desired method of mounting or containerizing the samples for shipment to the requestor should be included. You may refer to the article on "Sample Containers for Shipment of Allocated Dust Particles" on pages 14-21 of Cosmic Dust Courier No. 4 as a reference for defining your mounting requirements. Otherwise, you may contact the Cosmic Dust Curator for information on mounting options currently available. Each sample request will be reviewed by the Cosmic Dust Committee (CDC), and the Curation and Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials (CAPTEM), committees of scientists that advise NASA on matters related to the curation and allocation of extraterrestrial samples. The Curator will arrange for all required CDC and CAPTEM reviews and will inform investigators of results as rapidly as possible. Prospective sample requestors may select samples from among those described in any issue of the Cosmic Dust Catalog or Cosmic Dust Courier series. However, reference should be made to the sample availability table to check the status of each sample before it is requested. In addition, we encourage investigators to contact us in advance of submitting their sample requests if further information is desired.