The two helicopters took off about a half hour before the capsule was to return. A Black Hawk helicopter kept watch over the other helicopters ensuring no one tried to fly in the airspace. These guys had practiced several times and were able to capture the capsule in flight the first time each time. They were so ready. We were all in excited anticipation. Will they catch it the first time? Will they catch it the second time? They have 5 chances!!
The long range cameras watched the silver object hurtling towards Earth. It got closer and closer. Soon you could actually see that it had rotation. It was literally hurtling toward Earth. And the spinning object gets closer and closer. Next you can see it’s shape. It looks like a classic flying saucer. “Man,” I think to myself, “these cameras are excellent to be able to see the capsule in such detail at such a great distance.” Then I hear a technician say (paraphrase), “Uh, we have zero vector on the parachute.” “Uh-oh” I say to myself.
Then the camera that has been following the capsule shows the ground. It finds the capsule again. Wedged half-way into the earth. Clearly smashed. Closer inspection shows it is definately broken apart.
We anticipate news from the scientists. Will the plates be ruined? Is there any valuable science left in tact?
I cannot believe we can send a probe into space to collect solar wind particles and we can’t get the damned parachute to open on its return. Garrrgh! :mad:
I don’t think it’s broken apart though. This page has a photo. It also says the capsule was “designed to be able to survive such a landing.” That means there is still some scientific value to the samples - otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered to make the capsule so durable.
I watched the JPL press conference. I saw several images of the capsule. It is without a doubt busted open.
One member of the press conference said the innercapsule was broken, but from what they could tell at the time only a little bit, so I guess they’re hoping there may be something recoverable. Even if the inner capsule holding the science did not break, the plates inside would probably break thereby mixing the solar particles taken from different locationsm thereby ruining one huge aspect of the value of the data.
Also, the capsule was designed to crash on Earth - provided it was slowed down by a parachute. It impacted the Earth at close to 200 miles per hour.
This page says the capsule was to be repressurized through an air filter during descent, so I guess exposure to air wouldn’t be fatal. Still, they’d have trouble with contamination (i.e. dust), not to mention the sample collector plates being in a million pieces (probably).
Let me get this straight. We sent a probe high up into space to collect bits of the sun. It crashed back to earth, and nobody’s asking why it wasn’t named Icarus?
It’s a shame, and all, but when it comes to catastrophic NASA failures, this is one of the cooler ones. None of this “Lost contact” bullshit, that thing got spiked into the Earth like the winning touchdown on Superbowl Sunday.
It’s a shame about the parachute, but I was kind of impressed. The capsule survived reentry and impact in fairly decent shape. At least you could still recognize it. Not bad when you consider that it fell from orbit.
