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Genesis Discovery Mission: Science Canister Processing at JSCGenesis addresses questions about materials and processes involved in the origins of the solar system by providing precise knowledge of solar isotopic and elemental compositions. Solar wind ions are collected and returned to Earth for analyses. The spacecraft has two primary instruments to collect solar wind: a set of collector arrays each of which can deploy to sample different solar wind regimes, and a concentrator that is an electrostatic mirror to concentrate and focus low mass ions onto a 6 cm target. One of the key challenges to obtaining a good sample of solar wind, uncontaminated by terrestrial atoms, is to have clean collection surfaces in a clean sample canister and clean facilities to handle the samples for allocation and future reference. The Johnson Space Center (JSC) is responsible for contamination control for the mission, for ensuring the cleanliness of collection surfaces, and for providing a clean environment for handling of the samples. The level of cleanliness required is high; at the time of analysis (after sample return), the surface contamination by C, N, O must each be <10(exp 15) atoms/sq cm and for other elements the number of atoms/sq cm of each surface contaminant shall not exceed the estimated solar wind fluence of the species (varies by element between U at approx. 10(exp 4) atoms/sq cm to Fe, Si, Mg, and Ne at approx. 10(exp 12) atoms/sq cm).
Document ID
20040010590
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Other
Authors
Stansbery, E. K.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Cyr, K. E.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Allton, J. H.
(Lockheed Martin Corp. Houston, TX, United States)
Schwarz, C. M.
(Lockheed Martin Corp. Houston, TX, United States)
Warren, J. L.
(Lockheed Martin Corp. Houston, TX, United States)
Schwandt, C. S.
(Certified Associates Houston, TX, United States)
Hittle, J. D.
(Certified Associates Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2003
Publication Information
Publication: Space Science Reference Guide, 2nd Edition
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Meeting Information
Meeting: Lunar and Planetary Science XXXII
Country: United States
Start Date: January 1, 2001
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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