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Space Science

NASA Genesis Reentry Visible from Oregon to Utah 45

Posted by timothy from the quick-run-outside-and-hold-your-breath dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Genesis spacecraft will be visible as an artificial meteor starting in early morning over Oregon until its spectacular helicopter capture above the Utah desert (11 AM EST in the US). Although today's reentry simulates meteor physics, the valuable payload for Genesis is a billion billion atoms on semiconductor wafers now showered with solar wind particles. Unlike the Russian space program, few American capsules have tried overland reentries until the two extraterrestrial sample return missions, Genesis today and Stardust in 2006." Update: 09/08 16:04 GMT by T : RossCarlson writes "Stuck at work today and can't watch Nasa capture the Genesis probe live on TV? You can stream it in both Windows Media and Real (Video | Audio) formats from Nasa TV. Looks like the estimated capture time is around 10:10 a.m. PST. I for one can't wait to see them capture it!"
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NASA Genesis Reentry Visible from Oregon to Utah More

NASA Genesis Reentry Visible from Oregon to Utah

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  • ""The 450-pound capsule, moving 25,000 miles per hour, carries with it the same kinetic energy as a four-and-a-half-million pound freight train at 80 miles an hour,"

    Spiderman stopped a train in

    Perhaps he could do the same here? I wonder what kind of pay packet these stunt guys are on. We want you to catch this little ball of sunshine rays, won't be too hard.

    I don't think 'freight train' was a term used in the job description...

    four-and-a-half-million pounds? that is 2,250 tons [google.com]

    Go spidey! (and good lu
  • What if Genesis were used on a planet that already had life?

    Not anymore; now we can do both at the same time. According to myth, the Earth was created in 6 days. Now, watch out. Here comes Genesis. We'll do it for you in 6 minutes.
    • According to myth, the Earth was created in 6 days. Now, watch out. Here comes Genesis. We'll do it for you in 6 minutes. Well, Scotty would pretend that it would take 6 days in spacedock, but would complete earth in at least 3 days. Perhaps he'd even hire Slartibartfas to model those fjords...

  • Spy sats have used parachute recovery systems (Score:5, Informative)

    by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @10:24AM (#10188652)
    "Unlike the Russian space program, few American capsules have tried overland reentries until the two extraterrestrial sample return missions, Genesis today and Stardust in 2006.

    The early KH-1 spy satelites ejected film canisters which would reenter and be caught by aircraft.

    http://www.danshistory.com/spysats.shtml#corona

    Not the same as a whole sat, but still pretty impressive for 1960.

  • We've done lots of overland catches... (Score:4, Informative)

    by stienman ( 51024 ) <adavis@@@ubasics...com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @10:44AM (#10188909) Homepage Journal
    Unlike the Russian space program, few American capsules have tried overland reentries until the two extraterrestrial sample return missions, Genesis today and Stardust in 2006."

    It's worth noting that overland collection happened in the US for catching film canisters from spy satellites:
    After the cameras photographed the world from polar orbit, the exposed film was jettisoned back to earth near Hawaii, in a capsule fitted with a parachute designed to be snagged by special planes.
    From The Corona Story [ucsb.edu]
    I suspect one of the reasons the Russians focussed so much on overland catches is that they don't have many large bodies of water convenient to viable spaceport land. It's more an issue of necessity and convenience than expertise.

    -Adam
    • It's worth noting that overland collection happened in the US for catching film canisters from spy satellites:
      "After the cameras photographed the world from polar orbit, the exposed film was jettisoned back to earth near Hawaii..."

      Added emphasis mine.
      Last I checked, while Hawaii itself is land, everything around it for quite some distance is not.

      From the parent's source article [ucsb.edu]:
      "The capsules were designed to float, so that if the plane missed, Navy boats could retrieve them. In case the boats missed

  • Estimated time til capture: 40 min from now (11:39 am). See it as it happens on : http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/webcast/genesis/ . Right now, it's showing the helicopters flying out to the pick-up "point".

    Cragen

  • i don;t belive they wanted to do that...
  • Just checked in with the Spaceflight Now Mission Status Center [spaceflightnow.com]. The chute failed to deploy, and the capsule is "half-buried" in the Utah desert floor. Looks intact, but then, so did my Fiat after I wrecked it as a teenager.

    • Re:Chutes did not deploy! (Score:4, Informative)

      by RobertB-DC ( 622190 ) * on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @12:21PM (#10190472) Homepage Journal
      Replying to my own post, so shoot me. Here are some relevant quotes from the Spaceflight Now play-by-play [spaceflightnow.com]:

      * Starting about 1045 GMT, the spacecraft spins itself up to 10 revolutions per minute. The spinning will provide the unguided sample return capsule with additional stability during entry. The spacecraft then rotates to the proper orientation for release and spins up to 15 revolutions per minute.

      * Genesis will be stabilize with its nose down because of the location of its center of gravity, its spin rate and its aerodynamic shape.

      * About 45 seconds after entry interface, the capsule will be exposed to a deceleration force three times the force of Earth gravity, or 3 G's. This arms a timer that is started when the deceleration force passes back down through 3 G's. All of the parachute releases are initiated from this timer.

      * After one minute of atmospheric descent, the capsule should be at an altitude of 197,000 feet [...] Slightly over 10 seconds later, the capsule will be exposed to about 30 G's, the greatest deceleration it will endure during Earth entry.

      * 1554 GMT (11:54 a.m. EDT)
      The capsule has been spotted high over the planet!

      * 1557 GMT (11:57 a.m. EDT)
      The capsule appears to be tumbling!

      * 1557 GMT (11:57 a.m. EDT)
      The Genesis sample return capule is rapidly tumbling with no chute.

      * 1558 GMT (11:58 a.m. EDT)
      IMPACT! The capsule has slammed into the Utah desert after failing to deploy its chutes and parafoil.

      * 1604 GMT (12:04 p.m. EDT)
      Mission control says without the drogue chute and subsequent parafoil, the capsule would hit the ground at about 100 mph.

      * 1610 GMT (12:10 p.m. EDT)
      Recovery forces are moving toward the capsule, which has made a very spectacular crater.
      • Interestingly, when I was watching this live over the internet, they appeared to go to a picture of the capsule underneath a canopy, in a very grainy b/w sequence that lasted just a few seconds, then they switched to another camera, and later said they didn't yet have visual on any chutes.

        Too bad I don't have cable, I'd have loved to have this on my Replay, to show you some caps.

        BTW, I did catch the LAT/LON, they said it was 40 07 40 and 113 30 29, that would actually show up in China. If you say -113 ins
      • 1559 GMT (11:59 a.m. EDT)

        The capsule is half buried into the ground. But it appears to be mainly intact. ..well it seems that we still may have something
  • they go: its flipping end over end.. and its not deplyed its parachute yet.. which is what we expect.. 10 secs later hit the ground at 100mph..
  • Just saw it go crunch.

    It held together, but it's half-embedded in the ground.

    -T

  • They must be bumming now. We just watched it hit the ground, and that was awesome, and by awesome I mean totaly sweet.
  • ... for nothing. Now the helicopters just look silly, flying around with their little hooks.
  • it just crashed into earth. chute didn't open. that sux.
  • i bet the uk beagle team are having a laugh right about now...
  • ...that Colin Pillinger and the rest of the Beagle team have smug smiles on their faces now.

    Oh dear. Never mind, eh?
  • I still waiting the parachute to pop out in a road runner style then an anvil to fall on top of it..

  • They missed... (Score:1, Redundant)

    by stienman ( 51024 )
    The video shows a nice little crater, but they are saying something went wrong, so it may not be the pilot's fault...

    -Adam
    • The parafoil didn't deploy... no fault of the helicopter pilots. Just an accident.
    • I am not sure whether this actually *is* redundant, or wether parent is worried about the health of the pilot *inside* the genesis capsule. Given that this little green man hit the ground at 100+MPH i dont think (s)he'll be answering to anyone down here.
  • On the plus side it missed the helicopters...... But bad news, although not a total disaster I suspect. As the news develops we will know more.

  • This just in... (Score:3, Funny)

    by OneOver137 ( 674481 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @12:18PM (#10190432) Journal
    It dug a big hole in the ground...they had no chance to catch it as the chute did not deploy. Curiously though, a "black oily substance" was seen leaking out of the capsule.
  • The freaking shute didn't open... It went splat right into the desert sand!
  • Well, if the fact that it crashed wasnt bad enough, now the ground crews are being alerted that live mortar may be on board which should have exploded to release the parachute.

    The crews checked for reside, none found in quick scans. Now they'll have to call in a bomb expert to make sure its safe.

    Basically, this all means that some poor soul is really getting his behind chewed out in his boss's office at nasa.

  • The collection wafers may still be recoverable, but perhaps broken and jumbled by the crash.

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