Solar and solar-wind composition results from the genesis mission
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, CA (United States)
- Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
- Isotope Geology, Zurich (Switzerland)
- Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States)
The Genesis mission returned samples of solar wind to Earth in September, 2004 for ground-based analyses of solar-wind composition, particularly for isotope ratios. Substrates, consisting mostly of high-purity semiconductor materials, were exposed to the solar wind at L1 from December 2001 to April 2004. In addition to a bulk sample of the solar wind, separate samples of coronal hole, interstream, and coronal mass ejection material were obtained. While many of the substrates were broken upon landing due to the failure to deploy the parachute, a number of results have been obtained, and most of the primary science objectives will likely be met. These include noble gas (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) isotope ratios in the bulk solar wind and in different solarwind regimes, and the nitrogen and oxygen isotope ( 18O/17O/16O) ratios to high precision. The greatest successes to date have been with the noble gases. Light noble gases from bulk solar wind and separate solar-wind regime samples have been analyzed to date. The regime compositions are so far ambiguous on the occurrence of the type of isotopic fractionation expected from Coulomb drag acceleration. Neon results from closed system stepped etching of bulk metallic glass have revealed the nature of isotopic fractionation as a function of depth, which in lunar samples have for years deceptively suggested the presence of a separate solar component. Isotope ratios of the heavy noble gases, nitrogen, and oxygen are still in the process of being measured.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1211591
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-07-1091
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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