NASA's Genesis Capsule Crashes

edited September 2004 in Science & Tech
NASA's Genesis return capsule crashed into the desert Wednesday morning due to an apparent malfunction in its parachutes.
The 420-pound space capsule was to have been plucked out of the air by a helicopter and returned safely to Earth. It was carrying solar wind samples -- charged atoms of oxygen and sodium -- weighing less than 20 micrograms, which is less than a few grains of salt. It is unclear whether the samples have been destroyed. NASA officials say that the sapphire, silicon and diamond wafers that were used to collect the samples may have been shattered in the crash, although it may be possible to piece them back together.
Source: Wired

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited September 2004
    :(
  • Lord_NightLord_Night Piqua Ohio
    edited September 2004
    Jsut goes to show that no matter how much you spend on something.

    there is a gremlin somewhere waiting to **** it up.....

    Did anyone see the crash, I was watching.. was kinda sweet left a nice crater in the ground..

    but to bad alot of scientific equipment and data may have been lost.
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited September 2004
    nasa deserves more funding.
  • edited September 2004
    where's the emergency parachute when you need one? seriously i can't believe they didn't have a plan b....
  • Lord_NightLord_Night Piqua Ohio
    edited September 2004
    where's the emergency parachute when you need one? seriously i can't believe they didn't have a plan b....

    They did have a Plan-B....

    pick it all up after it crashes....

    and a Plan-C

    if it falls in the wrong area of the world.. it was filled with explosives.
    that could be set off remotely
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited September 2004
    I hate it when things like this happen, it puts science back years.

    The Beagle II project that went up to Mars would have been teriffic had it gone according to plan.

    Shame :(

    ~Cyrix
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited September 2004
    I saw a recording of the crash. Looked pretty cool, but soo sad that all that data could possibly be lost. *Sigh*
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited September 2004
    I find it funny that they can shoot an RC car through space and land it on mars, drive it around but they cant manage to get something back to our own planet from a few hundred miles up...

    xXUSERXx
  • Lord_NightLord_Night Piqua Ohio
    edited September 2004
    They Got it Back... jsut came back in more peices then when it left....
    but you would think one of those so called Rocket Scientest would have asked
    Hey will happen if the main chute doesn't open or gets damaged?
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited September 2004
    Lord_Night wrote:
    They Got it Back... jsut came back in more peices then when it left....
    ;D
    Lord_Night wrote:
    but you would think one of those so called Rocket Scientest would have asked
    Hey will happen if the main chute doesn't open or gets damaged?

    And every parajumper in the world would have the answer. :):grr:

    As would vileycoyoty (sp) :D :banghead:
  • Lord_NightLord_Night Piqua Ohio
    edited September 2004
    This may be out of topic... .but do you know that the Us goverment spent 2.1 million Dollars trying to figure out how to make a pen that would write in space....:mean:


    the Soveit Union solved this for 52 cents... they gave the Astronauts PENCILS......

    :woowoo:
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