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Genesis team hopeful about solar wind samples MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT Posted: September 16, 2004 Genesis team scientists and engineers continue their work on the mission's sample return canister in a specially constructed clean room at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Dugway, Utah. As more of the capsule's contents are revealed, the team's level of enthusiasm for the amount of science obtainable continues to rise.
The team continues to extract, from the interior of the science canister, small but potentially analyzable fragments of collector array material. One-half of a sapphire wafer was collected Tuesday - the biggest piece of collector array to date. The mission's main priority is to measure oxygen isotopes to determine which of several theories is correct regarding the role of oxygen in the formation of the solar system. Scientists hope to determine this with isotopes collected in the four target segments of the solar wind concentrator carried by the Genesis spacecraft. The condition of these segments will be better known over the next few days, after the canister's solar wind concentrator is extricated. At this time, it is believed that three of these segments are relatively intact and that the fourth may have sustained one or more fractures.
The team continues its meticulous work and believes that a significant repository of solar wind materials may have survived that will keep the science community busy for some time. The Genesis sample return capsule landed well within the projected ellipse path in the Utah Test and Training Range on Sept. 8, but its parachutes did not open. It impacted the ground at nearly 320 kilometers per hour (nearly 200 miles per hour).
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On Friday, Sept. 10, officials hold a news conference from Utah to update reporters on the recovery operations to salvage the Genesis sample return mission. (44min 47sec file)
Workers recover the Genesis solar wind samples from the impact crater and take the equipment into a facility for examination. (2min 08sec file)
Officials hold a post-landing news conference in Utah a couple hours after Genesis returned to Earth on Sept. 8. (40min 52sec file)
Powerful tracking cameras spot the Genesis capsule for the first time a couple hundred thousand feet above Earth, prompting applause in the control centers. But just moments later, that joy turned to heartbreak. (1min 02sec file)
The Genesis sample return capsule tumbles through the sky and impacts the desert floor in Utah after its speed-slowing chute and parafoil failed to deploy for a mid-air recovery by a helicopter. (2min 29sec file)
This slow-motion video shows the Genesis capsule slamming into the ground. (1min 06sec file)
Aerial views show the Genesis capsule half buried in the Utah desert floor after its landing system suffered a failure. (1min 53sec file)
The primary and backup recovery helicopters take off with escort from a Blackhawk in preparation for the mid-air retrieval of Genesis. (1min 01sec file)
Animation shows how the Genesis spacecraft was supposed to return. Expert narration provided by JPL entry, descent and landing expert Rob Manning. (5min 29sec file)
NASA's Genesis spacecraft will return to Earth on Sept. 8 with a capsule containing samples collected of solar wind. Officials preview the dramatic homecoming in this news conference. (50min 50sec file)
Mission officials provide a Genesis status briefing from Utah on Sept. 7 -- one day before the craft turns to Earth. (43min 47sec file)
