Genesis Mission Status Update January 20, 2003

The Genesis spacecraft continues its mission collecting solar wind material
expelled from the Sun. Telemetry from the Genesis spacecraft indicates that
it is spinning at a rate of 1.594 rotations per minute and in overall good
health.

Over this past week, the spacecraft’s ‘low solar speed’ collector array has
been logging the majority of collection time. There are three collector
arrays aboard Genesis that are exposed to or hidden from the solar wind,
one for each of the three solar wind regimes. Which collector array is
exposed is determined by the data received by sensitive ion and electron
monitors located on the spacecraft’s equipment deck. These monitors
scrutinize the solar wind passing by the spacecraft and relay this
information to the onboard computer, which in turn commands the collector
arrays to deploy and retract as needed.

Genesis Vital Statistics:

• 530 days since launch.
• 439 days to planned completion of solar particle collection.
• 597 days to Genesis return to Earth.