Genesis Mission Reentry September 8, Western US

[Leovinus]

One thing I always appreciate about NASA -- they put their failures as well as their successes out there for the world to see. Remember the good-old space race days? When Russia had fiascos, they covered it up and nobody heard about it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[phaze]

Now the Earth knows how Mars feels.

 

[Leovinus]

Pic. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[lunatic133]

so when are they going to ... um ... dig it up ... to see what is left of it? <br /><br />Speaking of ... Genesis ... No, he DIDN'T. Did he? Oh dear, I've just thought of something. I have an e-mail to compose. Darkness!

 

[bobw]

That looks pretty bad. Thanks for the picture Leo. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[omegamogo]

Do they have to remove it quickly to avoid further contamination or do they have to do it carefully to avoid damaging it more?

 

[centsworth_II]

<i>"...they have to do it carefully to avoid..."</i><br />To avoid activating any explosive devices -- originally intended to release the parachute -- and injuring someone. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[alexblackwell]

I'm sure the scenario below is one of the favorites at the moment:<br /><br />Genesis Probe's Battery May Run Too Hot<br />By Kelly Young<br />FLORIDA TODAY<br />posted: 09:30 am ET<br />02 November 2001<br /><br />"The battery affects the capsule's re-entry into the atmosphere. If it fails, scientists might not get their hands on solar wind particles."

 

[Leovinus]

There's supposed to be a press conference right about now. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

They keep switching the time from 2:30 EDT (eastern daylight savings time) to 2:00 and back again. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[chmee]

Hopefully, scientists are not being pulled out of parties by the military : "Sir, we have a ... Fire"<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[dreada5]

Why didn't they use ISS?<br /><br />They could have taken more precautions. Why not have Genesis aero-brake/retro-rocket into ISS's orbit and dock/retrieved - from there they could send it down aboard the next Shuttle/Soyuz or examine some samples at ISS. Now how worthwhile would ISS be then?! <br /><br />Well this makes good practice for a mars sample return! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[chmee]

yeah, that overheated battery problem in the article sounds like a good candidate. However, couldn;t they detect the voltage of the battery before re-entry? <br /><br />Maybe the battery had no monitoring devices.... <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /><br />

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Stardust's return capsule is parachute assisted, but I have no idea about midair capture.<br /><br />ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS<br />EXCEPT UTAH<br />ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />*ROTFL* Cute. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Regarding Stardust, that one isn't a mid-air recovery. It's going to land on the ground unassisted. It should be a fairly soft landing, however -- assuming the parachutes deploy properly. *worries*<br /><br />I think the reason the Genesis capsule was considered so fragile wasn't because of the nature of the collection grid. I think the real worry was contamination, and jostling that might move the atoms out of their positions on the collector. Stardust will be returning comparatively large samples (i.e. dust big enough you might actually be able to see it without a microscope). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

Yeah, and some of those dust particles will look remarkably like grains of Utah desert sand. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[chmee]

Better that the <b>Genesis Probe</b> hit the Earth rather than the <b>Genesis Device</b>! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[alexblackwell]

<i>Why didn't they use ISS? <br /><br />They could have taken more precautions. Why not have Genesis aero-brake/retro-rocket into ISS's orbit and dock/retrieved - from there they could send it down aboard the next Shuttle/Soyuz or examine some samples at ISS.</i><br /><br />Sure, why not? All you needed to do, then, was find a couple of extra hundred million dollars in spare change lying around to pay for that scenario. No sweat, right?

 

[Leovinus]

Sure. And hope you don't slam the Genesis probe into the ISS while you're at it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

The press briefing is starting now. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[lokase2]

Ok,<br /><br />I am watching the decent live on NASA TV via the internet. Upon impact my first impulse is to laugh out loud. Please, don't get me wrong, I am as saddened by the loss of Genesis as are most of you. I just can't beleive that yet again we are watching NASA with a failed re-entry.<br /><br />I am by no means a rocket scientist nor an aero space enginneer, but what I do know is that all parachuters here on earth have a back up in case the main fails.<br /><br />I know that space and weight are paramount when designing these vechicles BUT COME ON! One drag shoot is likened to building a car with one brake instead of four and no parking brake. <br /><br />For pete's sake, put in some back up drag shoots. If it costs more money in extra fuel or a larger launch vehicle then so be it. It is much better than losing the entire vechicle.<br /><br />If re-entry issues are not already on the top of NASA's todo list (as I presume they are) then this incident will push it to the top.<br /><br />Forget about the shuttles, forget about the moon or mars, forget about any future re-entry vehciles until you can build, test and deploy a system that will get heavy obects from orbit to the ground safley everytime.<br /><br />Until such a system can be built space agencies are going to keep losing millions (and possibly lives) in failed re-entries.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Lokase

 

[Leovinus]

Frankly, I'm absolutely amazed that both rovers reached Mars with the complicated entries they performed. I wouldn't write-off NASA just yet. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[redracer02]

ok, now it is on. On the internet anyway.

 

[sachinwfs]

I was just wondering... I there any reason that they couldn't have had the probe land over water? I mean, it should be airtight (it was travelling through space) and it seems to me that water would be a softer thing to land on than hard utah desert. I know they weren't planning on having it actually hit the ground, but what other back up plan was there?

 

[chmee]

At speeds of 100MPH, water is like hitting concrete; it would have provided very little cushion for landing

 

[Leovinus]

Hitting water at speed is like hitting a rock. Had the parachutes failed, the probe would have broken and sunk. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>