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Planetary News: Genesis (2004)

Genesis Sample Return Capsule Crashes In Utah Desert

There was no dramatic mid-air capture by helicopter today at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in western Utah. Instead of gliding gently in the air, hanging from a giant parafoil, the Genesis sample return capsule slammed into the ground at a speed of at least 100 miles per hour. As a result of the impact the capsule broke into several pieces and became embedded in the ground.

Mission controllers do not yet know the sequence of events that led to the mishap. Minutes earlier, a drogue parachute was supposed to be deployed to slow the down the capsule, before being discarded and pulling out the giant parafoil. It is unclear whether the drogue parachute itself failed to deploy, or whether the problem occurred with the parafoil.

Because of the uncertainty about what exactly took place, recovery crews are not yet approaching near the damaged capsule. It is possible that explosives that were designed to release the drogue parachute are still armed and unexploded on the capsule.

Scientists are hopeful that they can retrieve at least part of the scientific experiments from the capsule, but current indications are not good. The mid-air capture was designed to protect the Solar wind samples gathered by Genesis from hitting the ground at a mild 6 miles per hour. The impact was at more than 15 times that speed. In addition, it is quite possible that the pristine samples were contaminated when the capsule's body was breached.