Fact Sheet
Homeward Bound
A spacecraft designed to shed light on the birth of the solar system is folding up its instruments and heading back to Earth. The craft, called Genesis, has been collecting particles of the solar wind for about two years on the four disks shows in this illustration. The collectors began folding up April 1, and Genesis was scheduled to fire its engine to head back toward Earth on April 2. A small capsule containing the collecting plates will parachute to Earth on September 8. Astronomers hope the electrically charged subatomic particles will reveal new information on the composition of the Sun and the surrounding cloud of gas and dust that gave birth to Earth and the other planets. [Credit: NASA/JPL]
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