Wed, Sep 01, 2004
Solar Probe Set For Extraordinary Recovery
After a six-billion mile space trip, a fiery plummet toward
Earth and a mid-air helicopter catch over the Utah desert, a
spacecraft carrying tiny pieces of the Sun should reach Houston
next month.
The first bits of extraterrestrial matter retrieved by a United
States spacecraft since 1972, when the last moon rocks were carried
back to Earth by Apollo astronauts, they will make their home in
Houston. Following the mid-air retrieval of the Genesis capsule
4,000 feet above the Utah desert on Sept. 8, the spacecraft will be
transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center. The Genesis science
canister, with a precious cargo of solar ions that in total will
weigh less than a few grains of salt, will be preserved and
protected in the Genesis cleanroom at JSC, NASA's most
efficient.
Specifically constructed at JSC to house these samples, the
Genesis cleanroom is unique. It is continuously flushed with air
filtered to remove anything larger than one thousandth the diameter
of a human hair. From Houston, the Genesis samples will be
distributed to selected scientists to study.
The Genesis spacecraft science collector was assembled at JSC in
2000. The mission began three years ago with the launch of a space
probe to collect tiny charged particles called ions blown toward
Earth from the Sun. This constant stream of tiny charged particles
is commonly referred to as the solar wind. Scientists say the solar
ions Genesis has collected should weigh only as much as a few
grains of salt and contain oxygen, nitrogen and other elements that
span the periodic table. But the tiny particles may yield key
extensive insight into the formation of the Earth and other planets
at the dawn of the solar system.
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