Genisis capsule landing

* At 9:53am, Mountain Daylight Time, the return capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere above northern Oregon. The timing and the trajectory were precisely as planned. * Minutes later, when the capsule was above western Utah, an explosive device referred to as a "mortar" was to detonate. This was designed to release a drogue parachute, which shortly thereafter would release the parafoil on which the capsule was to descend, until captured in mid-air by helicopters. * For an unknown reason, the mortar did not detonate. As a result, neither the drogue parachute nor the parafoil deployed, and the sample return capsule continued on its ballistic trajectory onto the ground. * At 9:58am, MDT, the sample return capsule slammed into the ground well within the projected landing ellipse. * At the moment of impact, the capsule was traveling at 310 kilometers per hour (193 mph). * As a result of the impact, both the capsule's outer shell and the inner science canister were breached. The collector arrays, containing pristine Solar wind particles were shattered, though the size of the fragments is not known. * The Genesis team is now following a contingency plan that was devised for precisely this scenario. Mission specialists are now determining how to approach the capsule safely without detonating the unexploded pyrotechnics. By the end of the day the capsule, or at least the science canister, will have been removed from the crash site to a clean room at Michael Air Force Base. Scientists will then attempt to determine how much of the science can be recovered.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• genisis
• nasa

[broodzakje07]

Was it an unmanned capsule?

[FantasticBob7000]

Not really a landing...