NASA Genesis Mishap Investigation Board Status Report #1

The NASA Genesis Mishap Investigation Board (MIB)
arrived at Dugway Proving Ground (DPG), Utah, September 10,
to take charge of the investigation. The Genesis Sample
Return Capsule (SRC) impacted the ground after its drogue and
parafoil systems failed to deploy during re-entry September
8. Dr. Michael Ryschkewitsch is the leader of the MIB.

Thanks to excellent work by the Genesis Project Team,
functioning as an initial response team, the wreckage of the
SRC and its contents of scientific samples were recovered
from the dry lakebed. The science team continues work
securing and curating the recovered sample materials, working
independently from the activities of the MIB.

Since the initial recovery of the hardware, an inventory was
made of the impact crater, both by visual examination and
metal detector, to ensure no significant wreckage remains.
The recovery team finished its work and turned the impact
crater site back over to DPG.

The team finalized plans for preparing and transporting the
SRC wreckage to Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ facilities in
Denver, where the spacecraft was built and tested.

The MIB determined all the science-specific hardware is not
relevant to the Board’s work in determining the causes of the
mishap. That hardware was released to the Project’s Science
and Curation Team for continued processing. At the request of
the Board, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif., and Lockheed Martin have begun the process of sorting
and assembling the Genesis records and data.

News and information about Genesis is available on the
Internet at: www.nasa.gov/genesis & http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov