Genesis was launched on August 8, 2001.  During its exposure in space it collected SW (solar wind) ions at the L1 point.  Genesis is the first sample return mission since the Apollo and the Luna missions.  8,000 cm² of Mo (~300 nm thickness) coated Pt (~48 µm thickness) foils were exposed for 887 days.  The SW ions were captured in the Mo surface coating.  Our objective is the measurement of radionuclides produced in the solar atmosphere, such as ¹⁰Be, ²²Na, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, and ⁵³Mn.  The expected flux of these nuclides in SW is 100 atom/cm²áyr or less.  Our scientific objectives were difficult given a perfectly executed mission.  However, the hard landing of the SRC (Sample Return Capsule) on September 8, 2004 at Utah has resulted in contaminated and crumpled foils, making our work even more difficult and challenging than anticipated.  Before our measurements can be done all contamination must be removed.

The contaminating soil contains 2x10⁷ atom ³⁶Cl/g and 4x10⁸ atom ¹⁰Be/g, far greater than that expected from SW implantation.  To measure the extremely small amount of radionuclides from the Sun we will have to: (1) develop a technique to unfold the foils without damaging the fragile Mo coating; (2) remove any dust derived from the contaminating soil and the spacecraft heat shield, leaving no more than 1 mg of terrestrial contamination on the entire surface, again leaving the Mo coating intact; (3) identify and remove micrometeorite impacts, leaving no more than 1 µg of residual meteoritic contamination; (4) dissolve the Mo and separate all radionuclides without introducing contaminants; and (5) measure the concentration of these extremely low abundance radionuclides.  An additional complicating factor is that the chemical and physical properties of the recovered Mo surface are different from that of non-flight foils used for testing purposes.

These foils were also exposed to cosmic rays for 1,125 days in space.  To correct for the contribution of cosmogenic radionuclides in the foils, we exposed a SiO₂ disk on the SRC Lid blanket.  Cosmogenic ⁷Be and ²²Na in the SiO₂ were measured by a Ge detector and the ¹⁰Be and the ²⁶Al were measured by AMS.  Based on the measured ¹⁰Be in the SiO₂, ¹⁰Be production in Mo by cosmic rays for the entire flight period is less than 2 atom/cm², equivalent to 1% of the expected SW ¹⁰Be.  ~80% of ²⁶Al in SiO₂ was produced by solar cosmic rays.