GENESIS
Space Agency:
Orbit:
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State of spacecraft:
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NASA
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First curving towards the Sun and away from Earth to the L1 point, circling five times around it, then falling back for a brief loop around the opposite Lagrange point, called "L2," in order to position the spacecraft for a daylight return to Earth.
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It returned to the Earth in 2004
Purpose:
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Features:
Monitor the solar wind and to collect particles of the solar wind by ion implantation into the collector materials for a duration of two years, and to return these samples for isotopic and chemical analysis in terrestrial laboratories.
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The Genesis spacecraft is sun-oriented and spin-stabilized with two fixed solar arrays. The S/C has three major components: the platform, the SRC (Sample Return Capsule), and the payload.
