Genesis News Options

[jamescanvin]

Good news!

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/H...collectors.html

RELEASE: 05-102

NASA Announces Key Genesis Science Collectors In Excellent Shape

Scientists have closely examined four Genesis spacecraft collectors, vital to the mission's top science objective, and found them in excellent shape, despite the spacecraft's hard landing last year.

Scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston removed the four solar-wind collectors from an instrument called the concentrator. The concentrator targets collected solar-oxygen ions during the Genesis mission. Scientists will analyze them to measure solar-oxygen isotopic composition, the highest-priority measurement objective for Genesis. The data may hold clues to increase understanding about how the solar system formed.

"Taking these concentrator targets out of their flight holders and getting our first visual inspection of them is very important," said Karen McNamara, Genesis curation recovery lead. "This step is critical to moving forward with the primary science Genesis was intended to achieve. All indications are the targets are in excellent condition. Now we will have the opportunity to show that quantitatively. The preliminary assessment of these materials is the first step to their allocation and measurement of the composition of the solar wind," she said.

The targets were removed at JSC by a team from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M., where the concentrator was designed and built.

"Finding these concentrator targets in excellent condition after the Genesis crash was a real miracle," said Roger Wiens, principal investigator for the Los Alamos instruments. "It raised our spirits a huge amount the day after the impact. With the removal of the concentrator targets this week, we are getting closer to learning what these targets will tell us about the sun and our solar system," he added.

The Los Alamos team was assisted by JSC curators and Quality Assurance personnel from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Curators at JSC will examine the targets and prepare a detailed report about their condition, so scientists can properly analyze the collectors. The targets will be imaged in detail and then stored under nitrogen in the Genesis clean room.

Genesis was launched Aug. 8, 2001, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on a mission to collect solar wind particles. Sample collection began Dec. 5, 2001, and was completed April 1, 2004. After an extensive recovery effort, following its Sept. 8, 2004, impact at a Utah landing site, the first scientific samples from Genesis arrived at JSC Oct. 4, 2004.

Still imagery of scientists removing the concentrator targets is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/genesis/...eam_images.html

Video to accompany this release will air on the NASA TV Video File at 3 p.m. EDT today. NASA TV is available on the Web and via satellite in the continental U.S. on AMC-6, Transponder 9C, C-Band, at 72 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. It's available in Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-7, Transponder 18C, C-Band, at 137 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 4060.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.

For more information about the Genesis mission on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/genesis

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

The LPSC abstracts make it clear that they would have had a serious problem even without the crash -- the collector surfaces are all coated with something which Don Burnett says is "affectionately known as the brown stain" which seems to be due to "UV polymerization of off-gassed condensate on the collectors" -- and which is tough as the devil to scrub off without removing the solar-wind samples as well:
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2006/pdf/1611.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2006/pdf/1848.pdf

I doubt that they really feel that affectionate about it. It appears that the only thing that can remove it is "oxygen plasma or UV ozone" -- which seems likely to me to further foul up their measurements of solar oxygen isotopes, which was by a substantial margin the mission's most important goal, and which has already been screwed up by the crash contamination.

[The Messenger]

The LPSC abstracts make it clear that they would have had a serious problem even without the crash -- the collector surfaces are all coated with something which Don Burnett says is "affectionately known as the brown stain" which seems to be due to "UV polymerization of off-gassed condensate on the collectors" -- and which is tough as the devil to scrub off without removing the solar-wind samples as well:
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2006/pdf/1611.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2006/pdf/1848.pdf

I doubt that they really feel that affectionate about it. It appears that the only thing that can remove it is "oxygen plasma or UV ozone" -- which seems likely to me to further foul up their measurements of solar oxygen isotopes, which was by a substantial margin the mission's most important goal, and which has already been screwed up by the crash contamination.

There seems to be confusion, between the Newscience article, and Bruce's references, about when the 'brown staining' occurred - during the mission or after the landing. Also the source is unclear: Off-gassing from what?

I am tempted to say, when Genisis realized the parashute didn't open, but then nobody would take me serious

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

There seems to be confusion, between the Newscience article, and Bruce's references, about when the 'brown staining' occurred - during the mission or after the landing. Also the source is unclear: Off-gassing from what?

I am tempted to say, when Genesis realized the parachute didn't open -- but then nobody would take me seriously...

It definitely occurred while Genesis was still in space. You'll recall that, right at the start of the mission, the sample-return capsule's battery showed some signs of overheating. It was soon decided that this was because some of the craft's external components were outgassing a coating of dark fluorosilicates onto the battery's radiator. Sure enough, the same thing happened -- to a lesser, but still important degree -- to the collector surfaces themselves.

Solar scientists are now in a very awkward spot. It begins to look as though the science results from Genesis will be about as bad as they can be WITHOUT being quite bad enough to justify the high cost of a reflight. It will, I suspect, now be a long time before we finally have that much-wanted data on solar oxygen isotopic ratios.

[The Messenger]

It definitely occurred while Genesis was still in space. You'll recall that, right at the start of the mission, the sample-return capsule's battery showed some signs of overheating. It was soon decided that this was because some of the craft's external components were outgassing a coating of dark fluorosilicates onto the battery's radiator. Sure enough, the same thing happened -- to a lesser, but still important degree -- to the collector surfaces themselves.

Solar scientists are now in a very awkward spot. It begins to look as though the science results from Genesis will be about as bad as they can be WITHOUT being quite bad enough to justify the high cost of a reflight. It will, I suspect, now be a long time before we finally have that much-wanted data on solar oxygen isotopic ratios.

From this thread's first post:

"Finding these concentrator targets in excellent condition after the Genesis crash was a real miracle," said Roger Wiens, principal investigator for the Los Alamos instruments. "It raised our spirits a huge amount the day after the impact. With the removal of the concentrator targets this week, we are getting closer to learning what these targets will tell us about the sun and our solar system," he added.

Would that be "in excellent shape, except for the brown stain"? Sorry, but I think we were sandbagged on this - they must have known by April 2005 the samples were badly tainted, but they issued an upbeat and optomistic press release. I'm really tired of propaganda being propped up and called science. Where is Wien's credibility? Why, did it take 10 months to go public with the truth? Where are the descent profiles of the MER craft?