Preparing For Hyperseed MAC: An Observing Campaign To Monitor The Entry Of The Genesis Sample Return Capsule |
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| Authors: | PETER JENNISKENS PAUL WERCINSKI JOE OLEJNICZAK GARY ALLEN PRASUN N DESAI GEORGE RAICHE DEAN KONTINOS DOUG REVELLE JASON HATTON RICHARD L BAKER RAY W RUSSELL MIKE TAYLOR FRANS RIETMEIJER |
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| Institution: | (1) SETI Institute, 515 N. Whisman Rd., Mountain View, CA, USA;(2) NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA;(3) ELORET Institute, Sunnyvale, CA, USA;(4) NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA;(5) Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA;(6) U.C. San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA;(7) The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA, USA;(8) Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA;(9) The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA |
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| Abstract: | The imminent return of the Genesis Sample Return Capsule (SRC) from the Earth’s L1 point on September 8, 2004, represents
the first opportunity since the Apollo era to study the atmospheric entry of a meter-sized body at or above the Earth’s escape
speed. Until now, reentry heating models are based on only one successful reentry with an instrumented vehicle at higher than
escape speed, the 22 May 1965 NASA “FIRE 2” experiment. In preparation of an instrumented airborne and ground-based observing
campaign, we examined the expected bolide radiation for the reentry of the Genesis SRC. We find that the expected emission
spectrum consists mostly of blackbody emission from the SRC surface (T∼
∼2630 K@peak heating), slightly skewed in shape because of a range of surface temperatures. At high enough spectral resolution,
shock emission from nitrogen and oxygen atoms, as well as the first positive and first negative bands of N2+, will stand out above this continuum. Carbon atom lines and the 389-nm CN band emission may also be detected, as well as
the mid-IR 4.6-μm CO band. The ablation rate can be studied from the signature of trace sodium in the heat shield material,
calibrated by the total amount of matter lost from the recovered shield. A pristine collection of the heat shield would also
permit the sampling of products of ablation. |
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| Keywords: | Astrobiology fireball Genesis meteor reentry sample return capsule thermal protection system |
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