* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Genesis Spacecraft

Blobrana · L

Scientists surprised by Genesis mission's solar wind data

Much of the collected material survived the crash, and it's now turning up surprises: discrepancies between the composition of the sun and the inner solar system, which contains the sun's four closest planets, including Earth.
The early report, published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows among other things that the pattern of isotopes in the solar wind - and thus, presumably, the sun - is very different from that of the inner planets.
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Blobrana · L

New solar wind samples, salvaged from collecting devices that survived the Genesis spacecraft crash in 2004, may help to resolve how the Sun and Solar System formed.
NASA's Genesis probe collected particles from the solar wind, a high-energy stream of plasma ejected from the Sun, over a 27-month period from December 2001 to April 2004. The results of the mission are detailed today in the U.S. journal Science.

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Blobrana · L

Genesis Mishap Report:
The report that explains why the Genesis spacecraft's parachute failed to deploy during its return to Earth on Sept. 8, 2004, has been released.

Launched on August 8, 2001, Genesis was to collect samples of solar wind and return them to Earth, providing fundamental data to help scientists understand the formation of our solar system. On September 8, 2004, the sample return capsule drogue parachute did not deploy, and the capsule hit the ground.

A Mishap Board was established two days later. The Board has determined the direct cause of the mishap to be that sensors were in an inverted position because of an erroneous design.

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