The Genesis spacecraft was launched on August 8 from Cape Canaveral on a journey to become the first spacecraft to return from interplanetary space. The fifth in NASAs line of low-cost Discovery-class missions, its goal is to collect samples of solar wind and return them to Earth for detailed isotopic and elemental analysis. The spacecraft is to collect solar wind for over two years, while circling the L1 point 1.5 million km sunward of the earth, before heading back for a capsule-style re-entry in September, 2004. After parachute deployment, a mid-air helicopter recovery will be used to avoid a hard landing. The mission has been in the planning stages for over ten years. Its cost, including development, mission operations, and sample analysis, is approximately $209M. The spacecraft is shown in the report, and the objectives of the mission are described in detail.


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    Title :

    Genesis Solar Wind Sample Return Mission


    Contributors:
    R. C. Wiens (author) / D. S. Burnett (author) / M. Neugebauer (author) / C. Sasaki (author) / D. Sevilla (author)

    Publication date :

    2002


    Size :

    16 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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