HRTEM PETROLOGY OF COMET WILD 2 DUST CAPTURED IN THE STARDUST SILICA AEROGELTHE RECENT NASA STARDUST MISSION TO THE JUPITER-FAMILY COMET WILD2 COLLECTED THOUGH REGRETFULLY NOT INTACT SOME OF THE EJECTED DUST. THE DUST INCLUDED A SURPRISINGLY LARGE AMOUNT OF CRYSTALLINE SILICATES MOSTLY MG FE-OLIVINE AND PYROXENES [MG/(MG+FE) 0.5] A DIVERSE SET OF REFRACTORY SILICATES AND OXIDES AND FE(NI)-SULFIDES. THESE MINERALS ARE MOSTLY FOUND IN TERMINAL PARTICLES (2-10 MICRONS). THE MINERAL SPECIES ALSO OCCUR SCATTERED WITHIN THE AEROGEL CAPTURE WHERE THEY TEN TO BE SUB-MICRON IN SIZE DOWN TO A FEW NANOMETERS. WILD 2 DUST APPEARS TO BE WEAKLY CONSTRUCTED MIXTURES OF SUCH NM-SCALE GRAINS WITH OCCASIONAL LARGER GRAINS (ZOLENSKY ET AL. 2006). MANY CRYSTALLINE GRAINS ARE FOUND PARTIALLY ENCAPSULATED IN MASSIVE AEROGEL THAT APPEARS TO HAVE ACQUIRED SOME OF THE MINERAL CHEMISTRY IN A PROCESS YET UNCLEAR THE (SOLID-STATE DIFFUSION; MELTING?) WHILE AEROGEL WITH EMBEDDED COMET MATERIAL ARE OFTEN MASSIVE COHERENT (MELTED?) ENTITIES 5 TO 20 MICRONS IN DIAMETER. I WILL USE HIGH-RESOLUTION TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY WITH ANALYTICAL CAPABILITY FOR THE PETROLOGICAL AND MINERALOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF WILD 2 DUST EXTRACTED FROM SELECTED TRACKS TO DETERMINE THE PETROLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF THE COMET DUST THE EXTENT OF ITS THERMAL MODIFICATION AND ITS INTERACTIONS WITH AEROGEL. THESE PROPOSED LABORATORY ANALYSES WILL BE RELEVANT TO DETERMINE THE ORIGINAL NATURE OF THE WILD2 DUST TO UNDERSTANDING NEBULAR CHEMISTRY AND DYNAMICS AS THEY CONTROLLED TO DUST SUPPLY IN THE KUIPER BELT AND IT WILL SUPPORT OBSERVATIONAL ASTRONOMERS AND MODELERS OF COMET DUST FORMATION AND EVOLUTION IN THE TO EARLY SOLAR NEBULA. REFERENCE: ZOLENSKY M. ET AL. (2006) SCIENCE 314 1735-1739