NASA, the United States space agency, on November 4, 2018 shared a picture on their website with a creepy title 'Flying Saucer Crash Lands in Utah Desert'. At the first glance of watching the picture and title, spectators will get a feeling that NASA is finally opening up something about alien existence. However, that is not the case here, and this title is just a fun reference, and the flying saucer showed in the video is nowhere connected to aliens.
The object shown in the image is actually the remains of NASA's Genesis mission. NASA launched the Genesis mission in 2001 in an attempt to study the Sun, and the saucer pictured is actually the Genesis sample return capsule which crashlanded earth in 2004.
"A flying saucer from outer space crash-landed in the Utah desert after being tracked by radar and chased by helicopters. The year was 2004, and no space aliens were involved. The saucer, pictured here, was the Genesis sample return capsule, part of a human-made robot Genesis spaceship launched in 2001 by NASA itself to study the Sun," wrote NASA on its website.
NASA also revealed that the sample return capsule of Genesis had an unexpectedly hard landing after its parachute did not open as planned. The space agency also made it clear that many return samples remained in perfect conditions despite the hard landing at over 300 kilometers per hour.
"The unexpectedly hard landing at over 300 kilometers per hour occurred because the parachutes did not open as planned. The Genesis mission had been orbiting the Sun collecting solar wind particles that are usually deflected away by Earth's magnetic field. Despite the crash landing, many return samples remained in good enough condition to analyze. So far, Genesis-related discoveries include new details about the composition of the Sun and how the abundance of some types of elements differ across the Solar System," added NASA.
The United States space agency also revealed that the samples provided by the Genesis mission have provided pivotal clues regarding the formation of the sun and planets billions of years back.
