[Az-Geocaching] NASA in mourning

[Brian Casteel]

$260 million mission, and the end result was equivalent to dropping a VERY
large egg from space and watching it hit the ground.  From the video I
watched, they showed the actual impact (wow, btw), and stated that the
plates which held the specimens would likely shatter even if it landed using
the chute(s).  Too bad the failsafes...failed.  The video looked like a bad
outtake from Independence Day.

Brian
Team A.I.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Scotti" <jscotti@pirl.lpl.Arizona.EDU>
To: "Arizona Geocaching" <listserv@azgeocaching.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Az-Geocaching] NASA in mourning


> Hey Trisha,
>    I watched the NASA TV live broadcast of the Genesis entry and recovery
> this morning.  They showed the usual video feeds from the control centers
and
> the choppers flying in formation preparing for the recovery and then they
> used a long range camera to pick up the spacecraft as it entered overhead,
> first at around 400,000 feet.  It was just a white speck against the blue
> sky.  They continued following it and it looked sorta normal (I wasn't
sure
> exactly when things should be happening, so I was relying on the NASA
> commentator).  You could see the speck change in brightness a little and
they
> mentioned it was down to 200,000 feet (it didn't take long to go from 400K
to
> 200K feet!).  The image got a little clearer and then it started to look a
> little oblong and wobbly - I thought it might be an out of focus camera
> image, but then it soon was obviously elongated and was clearly the
> spacecraft spinning and tumbling it looked like.  I was thinking - "Wow,
this
> is an excellent camera view, now where's the drogue chute or main chute?"
> As it descended, the spinning looked less tumbly and more wobbly and I'm
> still wondering about the parachute as it now fills about 20% of the
screen
> when suddenly it vanished and then it was obvious that the camera was now
> pointed at the ground as it stopped and backed up.  I was thinking "Uh Oh,
> this can't be good!  Did we really just see what I think we saw?" when
they
> finally put up an image of the spacecraft, half buried in the dirt with
what
> looked like an impact ejecta blanket around it.  A bit later, they had the
> video from one of the choppers and it was obvious that the spacecraft was
> badly damaged with a crack across the spacecraft and it was also split in
the
> middle and half buried in its impact crater.
>    But hey, the re-entry targeting was right on - it impacted right about
> where it was supposed to!  It impacted at about 193 miles per hour
(terminal
> velocity for the spacecraft freefalling through the atmosphere).  I was
> thinking while looking at the images from the chopper that was circling
and
> showing the first of the recovery crew arriving onsite in other
helicopters
> that I should make it a virtual geocache, especially when I heard them
> announce the preliminary coordinates of the crash site: N40d 07' 40",
W113d
> 30' 29".  Unfortunately, that is on a military base, so I don't think it
> would be accessible to use civilians....
>
> Jim.
>
> On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 trisha@brasher.com wrote:
>
> > This is a bit off topic (unless they use GPS technology?) but we
probably
> > lost the data from the Genesis project (geez, I sound like a Star Trek
> > Movie!) this morning.
> >
> > The project, collecting atoms and data from the sun for the past 4 years
> > (at a cost of, um, 260 mill) was supposed to re-enter and land with the
> > help of parachutes, and they were even worried about a chute-controlled
> > landing....they had stunt chopper pilots ready to snag the chute to give
> > it an even softer landing.
> >
> > Instead, the chutes failed to open and the refrigerator-sized capsule
> > crashed to earth in Utah, creating a big crator. All that technology and
> > the CHUTE fails??
> >
> > We hope they can recover some of the data. In the meantime, NASA flags
> > are at half mast (just kidding)
> >
> > Jim, anything to add?
> >
> > Trisha "Lightning"
> > Prescott Vly
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>
> Jim Scotti
> Lunar & Planetary Laboratory
> University of Arizona
> Tucson, AZ 85721 USA                 http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/
>
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