Solar Probe Set For Extraordinary Recovery

After a six-billion mile space trip, a fiery plummet toward Earth and a mid-air helicopter catch over the Utah desert, a spacecraft carrying tiny pieces of the Sun should reach Houston next month.

The first bits of extraterrestrial matter retrieved by a United States spacecraft since 1972, when the last moon rocks were carried back to Earth by Apollo astronauts, they will make their home in Houston. Following the mid-air retrieval of the Genesis capsule 4,000 feet above the Utah desert on Sept. 8, the spacecraft will be transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center. The Genesis science canister, with a precious cargo of solar ions that in total will weigh less than a few grains of salt, will be preserved and protected in the Genesis cleanroom at JSC, NASA's most efficient.

Specifically constructed at JSC to house these samples, the Genesis cleanroom is unique. It is continuously flushed with air filtered to remove anything larger than one thousandth the diameter of a human hair. From Houston, the Genesis samples will be distributed to selected scientists to study.

The Genesis spacecraft science collector was assembled at JSC in 2000. The mission began three years ago with the launch of a space probe to collect tiny charged particles called ions blown toward Earth from the Sun. This constant stream of tiny charged particles is commonly referred to as the solar wind. Scientists say the solar ions Genesis has collected should weigh only as much as a few grains of salt and contain oxygen, nitrogen and other elements that span the periodic table. But the tiny particles may yield key extensive insight into the formation of the Earth and other planets at the dawn of the solar system.

FMI: http://www-curator.jsc.nasa.gov/curator/genesis, http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov