Scientists have examined the collectors aboard NASA’s Genesis spacecraft collectors and said they were in excellent shape despite last year’s hard landing.
Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center removed the four solar-wind collectors aboard Genesis from an instrument called the concentrator, which collected solar oxygen ions during the mission.
The ions will help scientists learn more about the composition and behavior of the particles that make up the solar wind, and perhaps how the solar system formed.
“Finding these concentrator targets in excellent condition after the Genesis crash was a real miracle,” said Roger Wiens, principal investigator for the instruments. “It raised our spirits a huge amount the day after the impact.”
NASA launched Genesis on Aug. 8, 2001, on a mission to collect solar-wind particles. It began collecting samples Dec. 5, 2001, and co! mpleted the effort April 1, 2004.
The spacecraft’s parachutes failed to deploy and it crash-landed in the Utah desert last Sept. 8.
