In its collecting configuration, the Genesis spacecraft exposed collecting wafers to the solar wind. (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The Genesis spacecraft was the first ever attempt to collect a sample of solar wind, and the first sample return mission to return from beyond the orbit of the Moon. It was launched on August 8, 2001, and crash-landed on September 8, 2004 after a design flaw prevented the deployment of its drogue parachute. The crash contaminated many of the sample collectors, but subsequent processing was able to isolate useful samples, and as of April 2005 some of the mission's science objectives are expected to be achieved successfully. Download high resolution version (1500x1118, 136 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1500x1118, 136 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The plasma in the solar wind meeting the heliopause For the British comic, see Solar Wind (comic). ... The plasma in the solar wind meeting the heliopause For the British comic, see Solar Wind (comic). ... An artists impression of a capsule returned from Stardust containing cometary samples A sample return mission is a mission with the goal of returning tangible samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. ... For other moons in the solar system see natural satellite. ... August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in... A drogue parachute is a type of parachute designed to be deployed from a rapidly moving object. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Operation

Launch and sample collection

A Genesis collector array consisting of a grid of ultra-pure wafers of silicon, gold, sapphire, diamond and other materials

Genesis was a Discovery-class mission of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The spacecraft was designed and built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. According to NASA, the total cost of Genesis was $264 million. Download high resolution version (1295x890, 95 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1295x890, 95 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... Sapphire is the single-crystal form of aluminium oxide (Al2O3), a mineral known as corundum. ... For other uses, see Diamond (disambiguation). ... NASAs Discovery Program is a series of lower-cost, highly focused scientific space missions. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in La Cañada Flintridge, near Pasadena, California, USA, builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... Lockheed/BAE/Northrop F-35 Lockheed Trident missile C-130 Hercules; in production since the 1950s, now as the C-130J Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is an aerospace manufacturer formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. ...

NASA launched the craft on August 8, 2001 from Cape Canaveral. Genesis followed a complicated Interplanetary Transport Network trajectory to a chaotic Lissajous halo orbit at the L1 Lagrange point between the Earth and the Sun. From December 3, 2001 to April 1, 2004 it exposed collector arrays to pick up atoms of solar wind expelled from the Sun. August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Cape Canaveral from space, August 1991 Cape Canaveral (Cabo Cañaveral in Spanish) is a strip of land in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that states Atlantic coast. ... Artists concept of the Interplanetary Transport Network. ... In celestial mechanics, the Lagrangian points, (also Lagrange point, L-point, or libration point) are the five stationary solutions of the circular restricted three-body problem. ... Earth is the third planet in the Solar system. ... The Sun is the spectral type G2V yellow star at the center of Earths solar system. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in... The plasma in the solar wind meeting the heliopause For the British comic, see Solar Wind (comic). ...

There were three distinct collector arrays, with only one exposed at any time. The three arrays were each used to collect a different type of solar wind, with the exposure of the arrays controlled based on solar observations. Each collector array consisted of a grid of ultra-pure wafers of silicon, gold, sapphire, diamond and other materials. General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... Sapphire is the single-crystal form of aluminium oxide (Al2O3), a mineral known as corundum. ... For other uses, see Diamond (disambiguation). ...

Sample retrieval

The planned mid-air retrieval was extensively rehearsed

Following completion of the collection phase, the collector arrays were stowed in a sample return capsule, and the spacecraft returned to Earth. As the capsule was approaching Earth and at the first stages of re-entry, all appeared well. Download high resolution version (681x1024, 100 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (681x1024, 100 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A helicopter with a long hook can catch a parachuting object in mid-air, as seen here in a practice run for the planned retrieval of Genesis. ...

A normal parachute landing might have damaged the delicate samples, so the mission design called for a mid-air retrieval of the sample return capsule. About 30 km above the ground, a drogue parachute was planned to be deployed to slow descent. Then, at a height of 2.5 km, a large parafoil was to be deployed to slow descent further and leave the capsule in stable flight. A helicopter flown by a stunt pilot, with a second helicopter as a backup, was then to attempt to catch the capsule by its parachute on the end of a 5 metre hook. Once retrieved, the capsule would have been soft-landed. The Apollo 15 capsule landed safely despite a parachute failure. ... A helicopter with a long hook can catch a parachuting object in mid-air, as seen here in a practice run for the planned retrieval of Genesis. ... To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 and 100 km (104 to 105 m). ... A drogue parachute is a type of parachute designed to be deployed from a rapidly moving object. ... To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 1 km and 10 km (103 and 104 m). ... A parafoil is a nonrigid airfoil, designed with an aerodynamically inflated cell structure. ... The Bell 206 of Canadian Helicopters Robinson Helicopter Company (USA) R44, a four seat development of the R22 A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors (propellers). ... A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat, or any act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes in TV, theatre or cinema. ...

The sample return capsule entered Earth's atmosphere on September 8, while the remainder of the spacecraft was diverted into an irretrievable sunward orbit to avoid atmospheric entry. Due to a design flaw in a deceleration sensor, parachute deployment was never triggered, and the spacecraft descended slowed only by air resistance. The planned mid-air retrieval could not be carried out. The spacecraft crashed into the desert floor of the Dugway Proving Ground in Tooele County, Utah at about 86 m/s (311 km/h; 193 mph). September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... For a solid object moving through a fluid or gas, drag is the sum of all the aerodynamic or hydrodynamic forces in the direction of the external fluid flow. ... The US Armys Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a facility located approximately 85 miles (140 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. ... Tooele County is a county located in the state of Utah. ... Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds. ... Kilometre per hour (American spelling: kilometer per hour) is a unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector). ... Miles per hour is a unit of speed, expressing the number of international miles covered per hour. ...

The sample return capsule crashed into the Utah desert floor, breaking open the capsule. The capsule is about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in diameter and has a mass of 275 kg (600 lb)

The capsule broke open on impact, and part of the inner sample capsule was also breached. The damage was less severe than might have been expected given its velocity; it was to some extent cushioned by falling into fairly soft muddy ground. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Sample extraction

The damaged capsule was moved to a clean room for analysis, and the unfired pyrotechnic devices made safe. Initial investigations showed that some wafers had crumbled to dust on impact, but others were largely intact. Desert dirt entered the capsule, but not liquid water. Because the solar wind particles are expected to be embedded in the wafers, whereas the contaminating dirt is likely to just lie on the surface, it may be possible to separate the dirt from the samples.

The analysis team is hopeful of being able to extract some useful data from the capsule. Roger Wiens, of the Los Alamos National Laboratory stated on September 10, 2004 that because much of the inner canister was still intact, and despite serious contamination, "We should be able to meet many, if not all, of our primary science goals". On September 21, 2004 the extraction was said to be going well, with wafer fragments beginning to be extracted from the science canister. NASA announced on January 27, 2005, that a first sample piece of an aluminum wafer was sent to scientists at Washington University in St. Louis for analysis [1]. Los Alamos National Laboratory, aerial view from 1995. ... September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Washington University in St. ...

On April 20, 2005, NASA announced that scientists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston had removed the four solar-wind collectors from an instrument called the concentrator and found them in excellent shape. The concentrator's targets collected solar-oxygen ions during the mission and will be analyzed to measure solar-oxygen isotopic composition, the highest-priority measurement objective for Genesis. [2] April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An aerial view of the complete Johnson Space Center facility in Houston, Texas in 1989. ...

Mishap Investigation Board

Genesis staff have started sorting through the debris from the sample canister

A 16-member NASA Genesis Mishap Investigation Board (MIB) was quickly formed, including experts on pyrotechnics, avionics, and other relevant specialities. The MIB started its work on September 10, 2004 when it arrived at Dugway Proving Ground. It determined that all scientific hardware meant to be curated by the Johnson Space center can be released and are not needed for the work of the board. Both JPL and Lockheed Martin have begun to prepare flight data and other records for the MIB. Download high resolution version (1000x665, 78 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1000x665, 78 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in...

It was announced on September 23, 2004 that the capsule, having had the science material extracted, would be moved to the Lockheed Martin Space Systems facility near Denver, Colorado, for MIB use. September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in... This article is the current U.S. Collaboration of the Week. ...

A first possible root cause of the failed deployment of the parachutes was announced in a October 14 press release. Lockheed Martin had built the system with an acceleration sensor's internal mechanisms wrongly oriented, and design reviews had not caught the mistake. The intended design was to make an electrical contact inside the sensor at 3 g (29 m/s²), maintaining it through the maximum expected 30 g (290 m/s²), and breaking the contact again at 3 g to start the parachute release sequence. Instead, no contact was ever made. [3] October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in Leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Lockheed/BAE/Northrop F-35 Lockheed Trident missile C-130 Hercules; in production since the 1950s, now as the C-130J Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is an aerospace manufacturer formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. ... g (also gee, g-force or g-load) is a non-SI unit of acceleration defined as exactly 9. ...

The same general parachute concept was also used on the Stardust comet sample return spacecraft, which landed successfully in 2006; that system was said not to have Genesis's flaw. An artists rendering of Stardust (NASA image) The Stardust capsule with cometary and interstellar samples landed at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range at 10:10 UTC (15 January 2006) in the Bonneville Salt Flats. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Shortly after the spacecraft crashed, it was pointed out that Colin Pillinger, part of the science team analysing the collected samples, was also the Principal Investigator for the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission to Mars. It had been suggested that the cause of Beagle 2's loss (which is as yet undetermined) might also have been due to a parachute failure. The determination of the cause of Genesis's parachute failure rules out any link between the two failures. Colin Pillinger (born May 9, 1943) is a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. He graduated with a BSc and a Ph. ... Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agencys 2003 Mars Express mission. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ...

The chair of the NASA investigation board, Michael Ryschkewitsch noted that none of the stringent review procedures at NASA had picked up a mistake, saying, "It would be very easy to mix this up".[4]

Some would consider it amusing to note that this mishap is an instance of Murphy's Law that is classic in a most literal sense: After all, the incident causing Edward A. Murphy, Jr. to phrase his now so famous law, was exactly this—an accelerometer installed backwards.[5] On January 6, 2006, Ryschkewitsch revealed that a pre-test procedure on the craft was skipped by Lockheed Martin, and added that the test could have easily detected the problem. [6] Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Murphys Law Murphys law (also known as Finagles law or Sods law) is a popular adage in Western culture, which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation. ... Murphys law is a popular adage in Western culture, which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation. ... A depiction of an accelerometer designed at Sandia National Laboratories. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Genesis Mission Home Page
• Impact video (6.4 Mb, QuickTime)
• SPACE.com article: Genesis Capsule to Be Sent to Colorado
• TheSpaceSite.com article: Genesis Recovery is Going Well
• New Scientist article: Genesis crash linked to upside-down design
• Mathematical Association of America article: Manifolds in the Genesis mission
• "Crashed probe yields first results; Debris from Genesis shows traces of the solar wind", March 15, 2006; news@nature.com