In the beginning … there was a thud. It was an unwanted sound, and one that resonated around the world.
Think back over 20 years ago to Sept. 8, 2004. That's when NASA's Genesis sample return capsule slammed into an isolated part of the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It was an unintended, full-stop, smashing occasion. Held tight within that canister were delicate wafers that were prized samples of atoms and ions, gathered up from wisps of solar wind accumulated over hundreds of days by the Genesis spacecraft as it loitered at Lagrange Point 1, a select spot in space between Earth and the sun. The capsule met the Utah desert at an estimated speed of 193 miles per hour (311 kilometers per hour). On impact, those wafers were shattered to bits.
