[Az-Geocaching] NASA in mourning

[Jim Scotti]

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
> ____________________________________________________________
> Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv@azgeocaching.com
> To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit:
> http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching
> 
> Arizona's Geocaching Resource
> http://www.azgeocaching.com
> 

Jim Scotti
Lunar & Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721 USA                 http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/