The Genesis Mission Metallic Glass Solar Wind Collector

NASA's Genesis mission continuously exposed materials to the solar wind, and brought them back to Earth for analysis. Despite the hard impact landing of the sample return capsule in Sept./2004, some of the solar wind collectors were recovered in pristine condition; one was a metallic glass, with target composition Zr$_{58.5}$Nb$_{2.8}$Cu$_{15.6}$Ni$_{12.8}$Al$_{10.3}$. In this talk, we will describe the glassy alloy, the mission critical-properties, and expected science returns. Metallic glasses are well suited to measure solar wind components: 1) the disordered structure reduces fractionation during solar wind ion-implantation and loss of solar wind ions due to diffusion; and 2) an absence of grain boundaries eliminates high-diffusion-rate pathways. The glass will be analyzed for high-energy elements; e.g., He and Ne, with beyond solar wind energies. It is hoped that the glass will help elucidate the origin of solar energetic particles, a solar wind component with controversial origin.