Genesis Mission Status Update March 14, 2003

The Genesis spacecraft continues to operate in overall good health. It
has collected solar wind material expelled from the Sun for almost 15
months.

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:

• 583 days since launch.
• 387 days to planned completion of solar particle collection.
• 544 days to Genesis return to Earth.