Re: Fate of Genesis bus
From: Alex R. Blackwell (alex_at_spamblocker.com)
Date: 10/01/04
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Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 15:32:34 -1000
Paolo Ulivi wrote:
> The Genesis landing press kit does not mention the ditching, an article
> in AWST hints that the bus was to be diverted and I find that it is
> still listed in the JPL's Ephemeris Generator. Does anybody know what
> was its fate?
After the sample return capsule was released, the Genesis spacecraft bus
remains in a loosely bound Earth orbit. And remember that Genesis
carries two onboard plasma spectrometers (i.e., in situ solar wind ion
and electron spectrometers).
Anticipating this, the Genesis team has proposed a mission extension,
dubbed "Exodus," to conduct joint solar wind studies with other L1
spacecraft. Exodus, if approved by NASA's Sun-Earth Connections Office,
would begin later this year and would involve redirecting the Genesis
spacecraft to a distant retrograde heliocentric orbit in which the
spacecraft would loiter for a considerable time at ~0.025 AU upstream
and downstream of Earth (~2.5x the Earth-L1 distance).
I wonder what wag came up with "Exodus"? Especially in today's political
climate. What would a second extension of the mission be called?
"Leviticus"? Having said that, however, I have to admit that, under the
Pentateuch order, a possible third and fourth extension could plausibly
be called, respectively, religous-neutral: "Numbers" [related somehow to
mathematics] and "Deuteronomy" [a merging of Deuterium and Aeronomy] ;-)
--
Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii
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