Genesis Mission Outreach E-News, 29th Edition April 2002

oin Us in May 2 Space Day Fun With a Child!

The Genesis mission is sponsoring May 2 Space Day online activities for kids. The mission scavenger hunt features an online form for kids and their parents to fill out, and if their answers are correct, we’ll send them the prize of their choice. There are lots of other activities, including an interactive game, a reading activity, and kids can “Ask Blast” a science question and receive an answer. Join your child in online Space Day fun at: http://www.genesismission.org/product/genesis_kids/spaceday.html

Genesis Halo Orbit #1 Nearing Completion

The Genesis spacecraft will complete its first halo orbit around L1 in early May of 2002. Because Lissajous orbits are by definition not truly periodic orbits, the exact completion time of the first orbit is not absolutely known. Therefore, we are having a contest to find out who can best estimate the completion time and provide a rationale explaining how they did so. Entries* will be reviewed by Genesis project staff members at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A full set of Genesis signature series posters will be mailed to each winner selected, along with a certificate commemorating achievement. Join in the excitement and predict the time that the spacecraft will complete its first orbit at: http://www.genesismission.org/product/halo_contest.html

*(The contest is not open to Genesis team members or JPL staff.)

Where is the Genesis Spacecraft Now?

View the position of the Genesis spacecraft. Most images are updated every 10 minutes. http://www.genesismission.org/mission/live_shots.html

Genesis Mission Status Update

April 25, 2002

On Sunday, the second strongest solar storm since launch passed over the spacecraft: high-energy protons at a level several orders of magnitude higher than normal bombarded the spacecraft. Due to previous improvements in the onboard software, the spacecraft weathered this well.

During the solar storm, the star tracker lost track four times. The Attitude Control software handled the situation as intended so that overall spacecraft performance was unaffected and all daily maneuvers were completed as scheduled.

A Deep Space Network pass on Friday, April 19, revealed that a minor lapse in the solar wind concentrator occurred at 19:36 UTC on Wednesday, April 17, when the actual rejection grid voltage did not match the requested voltage. Either the solar environment or a random high-voltage arc in the rejection grid could have caused the fault.

After the science team analyzed it, the concentrator was turned back on and the rejection grid was tested. The concentrator performed exactly as it had earlier this month before the solar storm. Following the test, the concentrator was configured for a slightly lower rejection grid limit voltage and put back in autonomous mode.
http://www.genesismission.org/mission/statusupdate.html

Educator Conferences

Genesis outreach team members have met lots of teachers and supervisors in the past few weeks at the annual conferences http://www.genesismission.org/product/recent_events.html for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the annual Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), and the Kansas Association for Teachers of Science (KATS) http://www.genesismission.org/product/KATS_confschedule2002.html If you were unable to attend these conferences, but have an interest in field testing Genesis education modules, you can learn more about how to participate in our development network of teachers at: http://www.mcrel.org/epo/dev_field.asp