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Genesis probe crashes to earth.
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:43 pm
by eric m.
This is kind of sad news. Everything went according to plan until the parachute failed to open and the probe crashed to earth at over 100mph.
DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, UTAH -- A NASA spacecraft spun out of control and crashed into the Utah desert this morning, putting a disastrous end to a years-long mission to bring back samples of the Sun.
The probe was supposed to deploy a parachute and be snagged by a helicopter for safe recovery.
The capsule, carrying tiny particles from the solar wind that scientists were eager to study for the first time, was half buried in the sandy surface and "appeared to be intact," said a NASA mission controller.
Closer inspection showed the flying-saucer-shaped ship had cracked in two, however.
rest of the story...
http://space.com/news/genesis_captured_040908.html
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:09 pm
by kalmark
Sad news, yes, but I'd say this was kind of doomed by default...Catching it in mid-air sounds like a pretty stupid idea...But at least they did not fail doing that
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:33 pm
by A10Pilot3
actually it wasn't a stupid idea, they should've had like 15 attempts to catch it between two helicopters, and it would be traveling at like 10mph
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:36 pm
by Amy
Either way, I hope they are able to recover enough sample from the sun to do the research they needed. It may all be destroyed, but further investigation might show otherwise...
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 3:19 am
by LVCapo
like we used to say "It isn't the fall that kills you, its the bounce"
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 7:30 am
by infinitevalence
So the probes attempt to fly by falling and missing the ground was less than sucessefull.
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 8:27 am
by Amy
infinitevalence wrote:So the probes attempt to fly by falling and missing the ground was less than sucessefull.
I hate it when that happens. Everytime I fall, I try to avoid the ground but it always seems to be right there to break my fall.
Scientists salvage critical parts from Genesis capsule wreck
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:39 am
by Illuminati
Scientists salvage critical parts from Genesis capsule wreckage
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — NASA scientists said Friday they have recovered some critical pieces of the Genesis space capsule intact and are optimistic the wreckage will yield valuable information about the origins of the solar system.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/sp ... esis_x.htm
Quite impressive... looks like some samples were saved!
Re: Scientists salvage critical parts from Genesis capsule w
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:41 am
by eric m.
that is great news. i'm sure some people were losing some sleep over that one; specifically the team who designed the parachute system.