Genesis Space Capsule Blunder

[Oxygon]

I watched all the "a do" about how great this was and about how important the capsules contents were...

And I watched the video about the "helicopter" retrievals...

And then the capsules failure to deply its shute...

...

Is it just me... or did the helicopter retrieval seem kinda stupid?

And the fact that a shute failure resulted in a nearly multi-million dollar loss...

maybe its just me, imo...

Could this have been sent/shipped to the space station until a return voyage?

still something could have gone wrong, it just seems like that would have been a better idea..., imo...

[Sevich]

Not sure if the capsule had a back-up parachute with a second seperate battery pack attached? .......it be silly if it did'nt, since it was something like seven years in the making, not to mention the big $$

what a shame though!

[Jonathan]

I think I heard that it had two parachutes and neither worked properly.
"Could this have been sent/shipped to the space station until a return voyage? "
Do you mean have it dock at the space station until at some point the shuttle comes by to get it? I think the helicopter idea is easier and faster.

[Sevich]

There's a weekly update of news in (space, satelites, probes, astronomy, stars, space shuttle, Russian space agency, European Space agency' NASA space probes, anything and everything concerning space and space flight)

It'll help if you've got (real player) if not, may I sugest you go to 'GOOGLE' and download it "realplayer.com"

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Web Link is http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/star.htm

[Oxygon]

I think I heard that it had two parachutes and neither worked properly.
"Could this have been sent/shipped to the space station until a return voyage? "
Do you mean have it dock at the space station until at some point the shuttle comes by to get it? I think the helicopter idea is easier and faster.

when your spending "millions and millions" of dollars on a fragile container...

"better safe than sorry"...

here we almost had a complete loss... thats unexceptable IMO...!

[Jonathan]

Imagine if something else on the craft failed, and the docking with the space station was unsuccessful. Then you end up destroying both!

[Oxygon]

Imagine if something else on the craft failed, and the docking with the space station was unsuccessful. Then you end up destroying both!

thats a good point, however IMO the docking procedures are antiquated and need improvement...

there are very complex docking manuvuers required to mate a ship to another, I have watched some futuristic movies and read some books that have adapted new ideas to the field...

Like "automated docking robotic arms" which orient the two ships together with maximum tactile control and realtime contact/inertial processing tech.

Or a maybe some greater maliability in docking structures... I know they designed a fabric(kevlar) inflatable housing structure for in space... this would dramatically reduce the danger in docking with another ship or vessel of various types...

For the retrieval of a capsule... one of the things I always thought was stupid... happened in the movie "Mission to Mars" where a person was lost "floating away" and there was no way to retrieve him?...

Ever heard of a netting gun? They did have a "gun/latch type" device with them, which shot a long tether at the person floating away but the idea occurred to them to late?(plot) and the person was lost....

The capsule could be captured by a "net" gun version and retrieved by this method...

Or perhaps you could get the capsule back home by an inflatable/solidifying cone structure... causing the capsule to not "burn up" or experience any real speed as it enters the atmosphere... just falls straight down... slowly due to the friction (Minimal)

Or "Inflatable Bouy" that would allow the capsule to float until retrieved by another method...

Or perhaps the shape of the craft could be altered into a "lifting body" design with a controlable decent... and a computer controlled return path... either a remote or onboard process...

...