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Genesis


September 8, 2004, was to be the climax of the Genesis mission. After three years and one month in space, Genesis swung by the Earth and released a 190 kilogram (420 pound) sample return capsule. Enclosed within the capsule’s science canister were pristine particles from the solar wind, collected by the spacecraft over 27 months in orbit around the Sun. Scientists on Earth were eagerly awaiting the arrivals of the samples, the first to be returned to Earth from space since the 1970s.

Genesis was unusual among space missions in that it was not aimed at a particular plant or celestial object. Its destination was an empty point in space – the first Lagrange point (or "L1"), where the gravitational pulls of the Earth and the Sun cancel each other out. Launched on August 8, 2001, Genesis reached its destination a few months later, and on December 4, the spacecraft spread its collector plates and began gather samples.

What Genesis was after were samples from the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that constantly flows outwards from the Sun. On Earth, we are mostly protected from the wind, shielded by our planet’s atmosphere and magnetic field. But out at L1, Genesis was feeling the brunt of it, and collecting tiny samples for the return trip to Earth. In particular, scientists were interested in gathering different oxygen isotopes, from the solar wind, and measuring their relative prevalence in the solar wind.

While collecting oxygen isotopes from space may sound highly technical and somewhat puzzling to non-specialists, to planetary scientists samples of the solar wind can help answer some of the fundamental questions about the history of the solar system. The particles of the solar wind originate in the very outer layer of the Sun, a region that, according to current models, has changed hardly at all since the formation of the Sun and planets 4.5 billion years ago. By studying the particles, scientists will have a chance to directly examine the matter of the solar system as it was at the time of its formation. This will provide them with essential clues about history and development of the solar system, which transformed it from a primitive swirl of gas and dust to the highly differentiated complex environment we know today. Scientists know, for example, that different objects in the solar system contain different ratios of isotopes of the same elements. Studying these ratios in the solar wind will help them understand how these differences came about. On April 1, 2004, Genesis stored its sample collectors in the sample return capsule and headed for home.

At 9:54 in the morning of September 8 (Mountain Daylight Time), as planned, Genesis’s sample return capsule entered the Earth’s atmosphere over northern Oregon. Over the next 4 minutes, with the aid of a drogue parachute, the capsule was to slow down before gently descending, hanging from a giant parafoil above the Utah desert. There, waiting in the wings for it, were two helicopters flown by some of the best pilots in the world, stunt pilots, who make their living on Hollywood movie sets. The lead helicopter was to swoop in, capture the parafoil on at the end of a 20 foot pole, and settle the capsule gently on the ground at the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Grounds. From there, the capsule was to be flown directly to a specially designed clean room at Michael Army Airfield, where scientists could begin processing the pristine samples Genesis brought in from space.

Things, however, did not go as planned that day. After entering the atmosphere right on schedule, the capsule failed to deploy the drogue parachute or the giant parafoil. Instead of settling gently onto the desert floor, the capsule crashed violently at a speed of 200 miles an hour, breaking up into several parts and breaching the science canister. The helicopter pilots could only locate the wreck; the team’s scientists and engineers could only watch in consternation. Was Genesis a total loss?

Not quite. True to its name, Genesis did rise again. Within weeks of the mishap, team scientists were confident that they would ultimately meet most if not all of the mission’s scientific goals. Three of the four collector plates comprising the "concentrator target," which captured oxygen isotopes from the Solar wind were found to be intact, and the fourth broken into manageable pieces. The Gold Foil, whose job was to collect nitrogen isotopes, was virtually undamaged, and the aluminum collector, designed to collect noble gasses, was bent but whole. The various surfaces of Genesis’s collector arrays were in small pieces, but they were designed in a way that made it possible to identify each fragment and determine precisely where it came from. The main challenge for the Genesis scientists was to separate the pristine space samples from the Utah dust contamination. But while this continues to be difficult and time-consuming job, it is, nonetheless, achievable.

In January of 2005, Genesis scientists sent the first samples from the mission to expectant researchers at Washington University in Saint Louis. Since then, numerous other scientific teams have received Genesis samples for study. The process is slower than it would have been if the landing had gone as planned and far more labor intensive. But Genesis, a mission that once appeared lost, is well on its way to being a scientific success.

Genesis Facts:

Launch Date: August 8, 2001

Arrival at L1: November 16, 2001

Beginning of sample collection: December 4, 2001

End of Sample Collection: April 1, 2004

Sample Return Capsule Lands on Earth: September 8, 2004

First samples shipped out for study: January 2005