Genesis Mission Reentry September 8, Western US

[omegamogo]

Any one else slightly pissed that Cassini, A mission that cost more then 1 billion dollars and was a complete success hardly got any news coverage while Genesis, A probe that cost around 200 mil but crashed gets the front page on CNN?

 

[sloracer]

Don't you see the difference though. Genesis is practically in our backyards. Cassini is so far away and seems remote, especially since it isn't coming back.<br /><br />Genesis was bringing back "gifts" from Sol.

 

[wvbraun]

Be fair: Cassini got a lot of media coverage (including the frontpage on CNN).

 

[sloracer]

Genesis Mission Status: Canister Transported<br /><br />The science canister from the Genesis spacecraft has been transported by helicopter from its impact site at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground in Utah to a holding area next to a specially constructed clean room on the Army base.<br /><br />The foil wrapping will be removed from the canister and dirt will be brushed off before the canister is moved into the clean room for analysis of the contents.<br /><br />NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Genesis mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operated the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. <br /><br />For information about the Genesis Sample Return Mission on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov/genesis . For background information about Genesis, visit http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/ .<br /><br />

 

[omegamogo]

<font color="yellow">Be fair: Cassini got a lot of media coverage (including the frontpage on CNN).</font><br /><br />Then I honestly didn't see it. All I remember seeing the news of it's arrival (and more news later) in the science section.

 

[najab]

><i>All I remember seeing the news of it's arrival (and more news later) in the science section.</i><p>Well, to be fair, they <b>are</b> covering Genesis' 'arrival'...</p>

 

[sloracer]

<font color="orange">Here's the latest bulletin</font><br /><br />RELEASE: 2004-221 September 8, 2004<br /><br />Genesis Mission Status: Canister Moved Into Cleanroom<br /><br />The science canister from the Genesis mission was moved into the cleanroom at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground in Utah early Wednesday evening. First, a team of specialists plucked pieces of dirt and mud that had lodged in the canister after the mission's sample return capsule landed at high speed in the Utah desert. The Genesis team will begin examining the contents of the canister on Thursday morning.<br /><br />

 

[halman]

orrery21,<br /><br />Sometimes, I believe that the filmclips of the early days of the space age should be aired more often. Watching rocket after rocket fail at launch puts our present problems in perspective. The Redstone had very few successful flights before the Mercury program started.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

<font color="yellow">RELEASE: 2004-221 - ...landed at high speed in the Utah desert. </font><br /><br />How about "rapidly achieved negative alititude"?<br /><br />"Landed" just isn't a word that fits at the moment. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><chuckles /><br /><br />I have to chuckle. If I didn't, I'd cry. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> My sympathies to the dedicted people who worked on this project. I'm sure they will pull it together and salvage something of value from it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[bobvanx]

>I'm sure they will pull it together and salvage something of value from it.<br /><br />Yes. From figuring out a work around with Galileo's antenna malfunction on up to even Spirit's balky wheel, as long as human ingenuity is part of the equation, we can hope that some science will be rescued.

 

[omegamogo]

(bleep), I was just watching the BBC when they said that Stardust has the same chute as genesis! I hope NASA has a giant trampoline...

 

[nacnud]

Four helios and a blanket would work <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> some how reminds me of Dumbo...

 

[ew72]

"Project Genesis" said Doctor Carol Marcus in one of the Star Trek movies as the fictional character tried to oversell her junk science to the people who pay for Pork Barrell projects, in the name of research and progress. <br /><br />Well, the first problem with this project was in the name. We all saw in the inspirational fiction a movie later that it was all an oversold blunder as part of an Industrial-Military pork-barrel project. <br /><br />Someone above cited Cassini - that mission has yet to land on Titan, and I think that will happen this winter - please correct me if I'm wrong. And besides, who made CNN the Station of Record? Well, idiots have, and they are great in numbers, but truly CNN's days are numbered.<br /><br />John Holiman, a guy who could be panicked by a wind from behind, was adequate and mediocre at CNN. I was very sad to hear of his death in a head-on crash while passing another car, but John Holliman was the guy who once described the "whoosh" of a Shuttle landing as airflow, when in fact the audio had captured the thrust of unseen fighter aircraft - specifically T-38's. I had lost all respect for CNN's space reporting then.<br /><br />Miles O'Brien was always much better. When danger was real or perceived, either the Columbia or the nerve-wracking failure of the SRB's to ignite as computer shut down the launch 0.003 seconds prior to lift-off - after the 3 mains had ignited - he was always good then. I don't know if it cocaine or what, but he has lost it. Read his "blog" today:<br /><br />http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/08/blog/index.html <br /><br />I just wanted to strangle him for the comment as follows: <br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>NASA and the media<br />Posted: 01:09 p.m. ET<br /><br />NASA TV is now talking about hurricanes. I guess natural disasters are better than the one they are contending with in Utah. None of our NA</p></blockquote>

 

[crowing]

I'm just hoping that maybe something might be saved,unfortunately you can never get away from the fact that the material has been compromised,maybe there will still be enough to at least show something that they don't know,or have never envisaged or seen before!<br /><br />After completing 99% of the mission,the last 1% kills it!!<br />Puts the success of the landers into greater perspective!

 

[telfrow]

All I could think about while I was watching this yesterday was the movie “The Andromeda Strain.” <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[anoolios]

Yahoo News has a story up ( http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/ap/20040909/ap_on_sc/genesis_capsule ) that includes a few pictures of workers examining the damaged capsule, and an interesting photo of a cleanroom worker holding one of the discs prior to insertion into the spacecraft. I was curious to see a close up photo of the craft in the ground (to see inside the crack) but couldn't find one.

 

[Leovinus]

<i>NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab's Amy Jurewicz, left, and Don Sevilla, second from left, Johnson Space Center's Judy Allton and Eileen Stansbery, right, examine and pick pieces of dirt from the Genesis capsule after it crashed Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2004, in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The space capsule, containing particles of solar wind, was supposed have been snatched from the sky by a helicopter before hitting the ground. But the parachutes failed to deploy. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, pool)</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[larper]

So, there I am, sitting in the Detroit Airport waiting for my connection back to Denver. Behind me, I hear "blah blah blah NASA blah blah blah NASA.." It finally sinks into my head that I am hearing a news report about something happening at NASA. I turn around to see a big screen TV with the replay of the "landing". <br /><br />You know, as disheartening as it was, the timing was such that I could only laugh. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[dreada5]

<i>Why didn't they use ISS? </i><br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>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? <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />It would have taken $200 million to fly it to ISS????<br /><br />Btw, do you think it'll cost $1 trillion for man to return to the moon? (just wondering)

 

[dreada5]

<i>Why didn't they use ISS? </i><br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Sure. And hope you don't slam the Genesis probe into the ISS while you're at it. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Is it impossible to dock two spacecraft? Is it far beyond NASA's experience? Do you think it might be beneficial for NASA to become familiar with this now?

 

[najab]

No, it's not impossible. It would, however, not have been cheap. For one thing, the Genesis spacecraft would have had to carry <b>much</b> more propellant and a large motor in order to brake into Earth orbit. This would have required a more powerful (and therefore more expensive) launch vehicle. This alone would have driven the cost of the mission up by tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

[alexblackwell]

<i>It would have taken $200 million to fly it to ISS????</i><br /><br />Let's see: larger launch vehicle, control and propulsion systems for capture of Genesis sample return capsule into Earth orbit and rendezvous with ISS, launch of special equipment and/or facilities to ISS to receive said capsule, ISS crew training and safety, Soyuz or Space Shuttle costs for return to Earth, etc. <br /><br />And all of this for <i>solar wind</i> samples.<br /><br />In my opinion, an extra $200 million for your "fly it to ISS" scenario is not an unreasonable estimate.

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Is it impossible to dock two spacecraft?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />No, it's not impossible. Just sufficiently expensive as to make it impractical. The Genesis spacecraft would have to have carried about as much propellant as its original rocket booster carried in order to acheive the neccesary delta-vee, which would have a) made it too expensive to be worthwhile, and b) required a larger launch vehicle than exists at the present day.<br /><br />Plus, if you have a catastrophic mission failure in attempting to dock with the ISS, you could depressurize the ISS, basically totalling it and quite possibly killing the crew, whereas the Earth was pretty much undamaged by Genesis' actual failure. <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>

 

[ew72]

I do not think this mission was a COMPLETE failure, even though I though the basic mission was always something of a wasted effort to launch a trash can through the Solar System. You give me $200,000,000 (about 1,000 very nice houses) for a project, I'll make sure that not only will the trash can's bags pop out (even if I have to use a $100 Remote Control Airplane signal to force it in the event of program failure) - it would also have deflector shields, phaser banks, and photon torpedoes at that price.<br /><br />But look at the bigger picture. It was a successful launch, and this thing went out of orbit to scout the Solar System. After that, they not only landed it on the right planet, and in the right hemisphere, but in the right continent, nation, and desert. That's pretty incredible in and of itself.

 

[ew72]

^<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p> All I could think about while I was watching this yesterday was the movie “The Andromeda Strain. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Ha! LOL! Me too! <br /><br />