{"id":22949,"date":"2021-01-05T23:27:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T15:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/the-story-behind-the-flying-saucer-that-crash-landed-in-the-utah-desert\/"},"modified":"2021-01-05T23:27:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T15:27:03","slug":"the-story-behind-the-flying-saucer-that-crash-landed-in-the-utah-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/the-story-behind-the-flying-saucer-that-crash-landed-in-the-utah-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"The story behind the \u2018flying saucer\u2019 that crash-landed in the Utah desert"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On November 4, 2018, NASA\u2019s Astronomy Picture of the Day was titled \u201cFlying Saucer Crash Lands in Utah Desert\u201d and was accompanied by a fitting image. Unfortunately, the image showing a mangled disk in the middle of the desert had nothing to do with extraterrestrials, but it did have quite a fantastic story behind it.<\/p>\n

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Back in 2001, NASA had launched the Genesis spacecraft to study and gather samples from our Sun\u2019s solar winds. The hope was that understanding our Sun\u2019s composition would allow us to better understand what elements were present when our solar system\u2019s planets were formed.<\/p>\n

When Genesis had successfully captured samples, it sent a return capsule back towards Earth so that the samples could be studied up close. However, the return capsule did not return to Earth as expected; instead, it violently crash-landed in a desert in Utah at 193 mph.<\/p>\n

The return capsule was supposed to enter the Earth\u2019s atmosphere and deploy a parachute to slow its descent, but that parachute never deployed. This error was caused by a set of g-force sensors that turned out to be installed backwards, causing the parachute to never be signaled for deployment.<\/p>\n

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