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Genesis Capsule Crashes; Chutes Blamed
Cyclotron_Boy writes "The Genesis probe (reported here) has crashed to the ground, near a road in the Utah desert. The stunt chopper pilots were not to blame, though. The drogue chute didn't open on re-entry. NASA TV is covering it currently. The choppers have landed near the probe, but no word yet as to the condition of the space dust." Many readers have also pointed to CNN's coverage. Update: 09/08 16:39 GMT by J : MSNBC has more coverage and a sad photo of the half-buried capsule: "The capsule broke open on impact. It was not yet clear whether the $260 million Genesis mission was ruined."
Here are some relevant quotes from the Spaceflight Now play-by-play. It looks like there were a number of things that could have gone wrong. Let's say it again, class... "Space Ain't Easy."
* Starting about 1045 GMT, the spacecraft spins itself up to 10 revolutions per minute. The spinning will provide the unguided sample return capsule with additional stability during entry. The spacecraft then rotates to the proper orientation for release and spins up to 15 revolutions per minute.
* Genesis will be stabilize with its nose down because of the location of its center of gravity, its spin rate and its aerodynamic shape.
* About 45 seconds after entry interface, the capsule will be exposed to a deceleration force three times the force of Earth gravity, or 3 G's. This arms a timer that is started when the deceleration force passes back down through 3 G's. All of the parachute releases are initiated from this timer.
* After one minute of atmospheric descent, the capsule should be at an altitude of 197,000 feet [...] Slightly over 10 seconds later, the capsule will be exposed to about 30 G's, the greatest deceleration it will endure during Earth entry.
* 1554 GMT (11:54 a.m. EDT)
The capsule has been spotted high over the planet!
* 1557 GMT (11:57 a.m. EDT)
The capsule appears to be tumbling!
* 1557 GMT (11:57 a.m. EDT)
The Genesis sample return capule is rapidly tumbling with no chute.
* 1558 GMT (11:58 a.m. EDT)
IMPACT! The capsule has slammed into the Utah desert after failing to deploy its chutes and parafoil.
* 1604 GMT (12:04 p.m. EDT)
Mission control says without the drogue chute and subsequent parafoil, the capsule would hit the ground at about 100 mph.
* 1610 GMT (12:10 p.m. EDT)
Recovery forces are moving toward the capsule, which has made a very spectacular crater.
(Disclaimer: I posted this in the pre-impact discussion as well.)
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
The drouge chutes failed to deploy correctly and the parafoil either sheared off or never deployed. They are concerned that the mortar used to deploy the drouge is still live, so they are treating the scene as a "Live Spacecraft".
it is better to light a flame thrower than curse the darkness. -Terry Pratchett Men at Arms
There was some concern that the sample return capsule battery would fail, jeopardizing the re-entry. The battery was overheating, but ground tests have shown that the battery should be unaffected by the amount of heating it has endured, and should operate to deploy the parachute on reentry.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog? sc=2001-034A
Man, that was a great thing we coulda had. I hope something survived. The aerogel should have survived (I think that the fracture strength is enough to survive 100mph impact, if they put it in a safe spot in the capsule, someone with engineering know-how look at the numbers).
At least this foley didn't kill anyone, or hurt any property to my knowledge. Hope we still get some data. If not at least we have a crater.
md5sum
d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
Space.com is carrying this story about the Genesis return capsule that returned to Earth today in a big way. I guess there won't be any trophies for the stunt pilots.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
Dr. David Marcus, head of the Genesis Project, has gone into hiding.
Wasn't Dr. Carol Marcus the actual head of the Genesis project?
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FYI, there's going to be a press conference at 2:00PM EST. I know at least CNN will be covering it, for those of us who don't get NASA TV.
There was some concern that the sample return capsule battery would fail, jeopardizing the re-entry. The battery was overheating, but ground tests have shown that the battery should be unaffected by the amount of heating it has endured, and should operate to deploy the parachute on reentry.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog? sc=2001-034A
Apparently, Vertigo. From the Genesis website:
Vertigo is a small business that specializes in the development and rapid prototyping of advanced aeronautical and civil structures from inflatable shelters to parachute delivery systems to spacecraft deceleration systems. Vertigo will provide two mid-air retrieval, winch-based systems to mount in two Genesis retrieval helicopters. Vertigo is lead on the mid-air recovery flight operations. Helicopter crew provided by Vertigo are: Roy Haggard - Lead Director of Flight Operations Myles Elsing - Wing Director of Flight Operations Brian Johnson - Lead Payload Master Lynn Fogleman - Wing Payload Master The Vertigo Program Manager is Brook Norton.
This daring retrieval method will protect the samples and sensitive instruments during reentry. A crash landing, even at the capsule's relatively slow speed of 9 mph, could ruin some of the data collected during the mission.
Considering the fact that it hit the ground at about a 100mph, when a crash landing at even 9mph was considered dangerous, it is very likely that most of the instrumentation and data is ruined.
Hopefully the canisters (or the like) containing the samples survived the ride. The helicopter "snatch" strategy sounded hit-and-go to me anyway, but then I'm just an ignorant computer scientist.
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I'm sure I'm not the first one to bring this up, but it's not like we've never done this before.
It's perfectly feasable
I don't think you'll probably want to go geocaching there. It's in the Dugway Proving Grounds.
Use Ctrl-C instead of ESC in Vim!
No, no, no -- Vertigo was responsible for catching it once the parachutes were deployed. Pioneer Aerospace was contracted to build the deceleration system.
This from MSNBC: "It picked up speed rapidly as Earth's gravitational pull brought it closer, reaching velocities of 25,000 mph or 11 kilometers per second. The capsule's descent was then slowed somewhat by atmospheric re-entry." They then forgot to mention that it hit at only 100mph. I'd say hitting the ground at 100mph was just barely a "slowed somewhat". No one could ever accuse the media of overexagerating the facts!
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Wrong mission. You are thinking of Stardust, which will return samples from a comet.
Genesis allowed solar wind particles to slam into polished slabs of metal; some of the particles stick and can be recovered afterwards.
Michael Richmond "This is the heart that broke my finger."
mwrsps@rit.edu http://stupendous.rit.edu
*Damn* those farkers! Why don't we have ultra-softcore pr0n on the left side of every page?
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Plans
1) leave probe in orbit
- Kinda hard to analyse up there.
2) Catch it with a shuttle
- The same shuttle done in by a few pounds of foam?
- half a billion dollars to catch a capsule?
3) have it cruise past the ISS
- If it cruises past the ISS, where will it go? You'd have to decelerate it, and put it in the correct orbit (incline, velocity, altitude). Not impossible, but you would easily double the cost of the probe.
Returning capsules is an old, well understood process. Even catching things in midair is an old hat (how do you think the old spy satellites returned their payloads?). But nothing is foolproof. Parts are not 100% reliable.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
In the old days before video spy satellites, film canisters were recovered by helicopter snatching of parachutes. Its a well-tried technology.
Yeah, NASA TV viewers saw it unfold live, and its already been show on news networks.
TheHustler
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Couldn't they have possibly gotten that probe into an orbit that a shuttle could have matched, and recover the probe that way?
Of course, but then the cost would have been closer to $1B instead of $260M.
I'm sure their second attempt (total cost including $260M attempt still under $600M) will be better.
Rod Taylor
The guided missile I worked on used a S and A Safety and Arming, device not unlike what is described. The "warhead" is only armed after the missile achieves a classified amount of acceleration for a period of time. This is needed to insure that the "warhead" doesn't detonated at an unsafe distance from the launcher.
It is preferable to have a spacecraft auger into the dirt, than have a parchute deploy on launch and possibly pulled the launch vehicle into a populated area.
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I'm not sure what you're complaining about. This is almost exactly how the story starts...
The battery affects the capsule's re-entry into the atmosphere. If it fails, scientists might not get their hands on solar wind particles.
This was a typical NASA mission. NASA is not the premier science/engineering organization anymore.
Maybe selling the particle catchers for jewelry can be profitable!
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
This mission was done by JPL, which IS A COMMERCIAL ENTITY. JPL is essentially a national lab. NASA subcontracts to CalTech to run JPL. NASA supplied the money, CalTech, JPL, and industry ran the mission. Not sure how you can get more commercial than that.
I think you need to remember this was one of the "faster cheaper better" missions...
This spacecraft was launched in 2001... and was designed at the hight (and arguably the decline) of "faster cheaper better".
In 1999 we Lost Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander, which reshaped the way NASA did business... Problem was, they already had this craft designed and ready to build, money was committed, etc, so they could look at redesigning things, but for the most part those designs could not alter it signifigantly, or the craft would have visited the Smithsonian, not the Sun.
Secondly the re-entry design based itself on tested technologies, so they would have not placed as much emphasis on the deployment of the chute, but rater the unfirling of the parasail chute (Not as tested, and to my knowledge, NEVER tested on a space mission)... Pyros are very reliable, but they do fail... Mariner 3 was a victim of such a failure. My guess is one of the pyros failed, or it shorted the circut board when it fired, and as a result, the chute diddn't open.
If you saw the Tomes of engineering paperwork required to build such a craft, you'd be surprised what considerations are taken and how mechanically complex these craft can be considering their minute size.
The engineers at JPL are some of the most brilliant gearheads out there, but despite that they are human, and for sure, there's always a better way to do something... Problem is, you don't know its wrong until it shows itself to be wrong. If it worked before, it was "good", right?
Maybe not, but that's Murphy's Law, not Gov't bloat.
Just how far do you want to go back? Beagle2's namesake predecessor launched in 1825!
(Beagle2 was not the second mission in a series - it was named after a famous other ship that went on a voyage of discovery.)
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/000193.html
--
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Enjoy the magic of terminal velocity.
There were two parachutes, a drogue and a main parachute. It was presumed at least through preliminary analysis that the drogue chute was sheared off during reentry (at least some telemetry that would indicate that occured). I did see something like a chute open up during the decent, but the camera was a telephoto image.
Keep in mind that more backup systems also require extra weight during lanuch (and that is dead payload weight that must be accounted for the entire mission). That is not as cheap as you indicate, plus you have to have extra systems to deal with those redundant systems, testing equipment, and the possibility that the extra parachutes might prematurely detonate deploying while it was in solar orbit during the collection phase...not something you would particularly care for in that position. I dare you to take your little garage remote into space, keep it there for many years exposed to solar flares, and have it get triggered exactly on schedule after communications blackout due to reentry. I don't think that remote would make it.
Still, the parachute deployment should be something that NASA has plenty of experience at doing. The only really unique aspect of this mission was the retreval before it hit the ground.