| .....What is the Sun made of? Are the
planets made of the same materials? The
Genesis mission will send a spacecraft to
collect particles ejected from the Sun,
called solar wind, that may contain the
answers. After launch in 2001, the
Genesis spacecraft will journey a million
miles sunward, unfold its collectors and
"sunbathe" for two years,
before returning to Earth in 2003. .....The goal of the mission is to
enrich our understanding of the birth and
evolution of the planets and all the
bodies in our solar system.
.....Most scientists believe the
solar system was formed 4.6 billion years
ago by the gravitational collapse of the
solar nebula, dust and ice created from
the stars. As time went on, most of the
material was pulled together by gravity
to form the Sun and other celestial
bodies as we know them today.
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