The Hindu : International : Space stunt over Utah desert

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 16, 2004

International

International

Space stunt over Utah desert

By Robin McKie

LONDON, AUG. 15. It promises to be a scene worthy of a science fiction spectacular. A space probe carrying primordial material scooped from outer space starts to plunge towards our planet. But before it can strike, a helicopter flown by a Hollywood stunt pilot swoops to seize the craft, preventing it from hitting the ground. The probe and its mysterious cargo are returned safely for investigation by scientists.

Complex manoeuvre

It sounds fantastic. But this precise scenario is to take place in a few weeks over America's Utah desert, when the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) attempts to capture its $275-million Genesis spacecraft — which has travelled more than two million miles through space in the last three years — as it plunges towards Earth.

There is no danger of the probe contaminating Earth. The interception has been arranged because scientists fear that the craft's samples — taken from the solar wind, the miasma of charged particles that stream from the Sun — could be contaminated if it hits the ground. So the agency has hired and trained Hollywood stunt pilots Dan Rudert and Cliff Fleming to save its cargo for science.

Mr. Fleming, who has worked on films such as Star Trek IV, managed to capture a dummy capsule at every attempt during rehearsals. Now he is standing by for the real event on September 8.

It will not be an easy task, however, as Genesis project manager, Don Sweetnam, acknowledges. "We must get the spacecraft to return to a tiny spot in the Utah desert and then snag it with a helicopter before it hits the ground."

Solar wind particles

Genesis was launched in August 2001, and used a series of wheel-like arrays to collect particles from the solar wind — about 300 millionths of a gram was gathered. This material should provide researchers with insights into how our solar system was formed.

Last April, the craft completed its collecting mission and is now heading home. On September 8, as it passes over the earth, the main probe will release a capsule containing its cargo and drop it into the atmosphere.

The descent

Parachutes will slow its descent from more than 24,000 mph to around 20mph. Then Mr. Fleming will use an 18-feet pole with a hook to snare it as it floats over Utah, before lowering it on to a sterile tarpaulin and bringing it to the ground.

The return of Genesis's samples will provide NASA with the first extraterrestrial material it has brought to Earth since Apollo 17 returned from the Moon in 1972.

While Eugene Cernan and his crew brought back hundreds of pounds of Moon rocks, Genesis will return the equivalent of a few grains of sand.

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