Genesis Mission Status Update December 13, 2002

The Genesis spacecraft remains in good health, collecting solar wind
material expelled from the Sun.

On Dec. 10, Genesis fine-tuned the spacecraft’s orbit around the
Lagrange 1 point of gravitational stability between Earth and the Sun.
This station-keeping maneuver was the seventh of 15 planned during the
lifetime of the mission. Telemetry downlinked after the burn indicates
that the spacecraft’s small hydrazine thrusters fired for 291 seconds
and the desired velocity change of 1.25 meters-per-second (2.68 miles
per hour) was achieved.

On four separate occasions during the past week voltage running through
the fine wires forming a rejection grid in the front of the spacecraft’s
sample concentrator has sagged below the intended voltage. On each
occasion the spacecraft’s successfully returned the voltage to its
desired level within an hour. Genesis team members at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory are monitoring the situation and are planning on
transmitting up to the spacecraft a minor setting change in the flight
software.