Platinum is to have an important role in the analysis of particles from outer space that have recently returned to earth.

Scientists in the US are currently poring over the Stardust capsule, which has landed safely on earth following its trip into space to collect dust and particles which experts believe helped form the universe millions of year ago.

Platinum will play an important part in their experiments, one expert preparing to carry out tests on the dust has revealed.

Speaking to the Duluth News Tribune, University of Minnesota physicist Bob Pepin explained that he and his team of researchers will place the particles which will look like tiny grains of sand, in a specially-designed platinum "pocket".

That pocket is then put into a vacuum and is electrically heated "like a toaster", before driving off the gases and conducting them into a mass spectrometer to measure the amount of helium and neon gases present.

It is hoped that the experiments can shed more light on the origins of the universe, the solar system, as well as our own planet


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