Genesis mission

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by wet1, Aug 8, 2001.

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  1. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    From the BBC:

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    A spacecraft that aims to collect charged particles from the Sun is expected to get airborne on Wednesday.
    The Genesis space probe has been held on the ground at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, US, for more than a week.
    At first, the launch was scrubbed for two days because of concerns over a pair of power converters in the spacecraft. Then, when the components were cleared for blast off, rain and thick clouds moved into the launch area.
    Genesis has been designed to capture and return to Earth about 10 to 20 micrograms of the solar wind, the charged particles that stream away from our star.
    'Rosetta Stone'
    Researchers hope the project will help them answer some of the fundamental questions about the exact composition of the Sun and the birth of our Solar System.
    "This mission will be the Rosetta Stone of planetary science data, because it will show us the foundation by which we can judge how our Solar System evolved," said Chester Sasaki, Genesis project manager at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
    "The samples that Genesis returns will show us the composition of the original solar nebula that formed the planets, asteroids, comets and the Sun we know today," he added.
    Genesis will be the first mission to return a sample of extraterrestrial material collected beyond the orbit of the Moon.
    Mid-air retrieval
    To do this, the spacecraft must get to a position in space well beyond Earth's atmosphere and the magnetic environment that acts as a buffer against the solar wind.
    Only when it reaches this location - about 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) distant - can it start to collect particles in its bicycle tyre-sized arrays made of diamond, gold, silicone and sapphire.
    On-board instruments will record other details about the wind, such as its speed, density and temperature.
    Genesis will return its cargo to Earth in September 2004. A capsule containing the samples will parachute down through the atmosphere, where it will be grabbed in mid-air by a helicopter. The special retrieval will prevent the samples from being damaged by the sudden impact of hitting the ground.
     
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  3. coltallen Registered Member

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    I'm just specualting, but I wonder if there is a chance to find another type of "power source" within these particles. Maybe something better, some new way of changing our way of thinking in terms of fuel. I wonder if NASA has even giving it any thought?
     
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  5. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    It is always nice to think about. We have already done our thnking on the subject (the scientific crowd). They have designed a probe to go out and prove it.

    But it is discovery and exploration type thing. As such you never know if you will get back what you thought should be. It is the reason we must send such to actually take the sample and prove beyond doubt that it is indeed as we thought. When it is not as we thought is when we really learn though.
     
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