Planetary Science

Genesis

72 tracked publications and 3,826 citations from 2003–2026. Launched 2001. Life-cycle cost: $411M in 2025 dollars. Active Mission Window December 1, 2001 to October 1, 2006: 10 publications, 1 top-10% credit.

Sample Return · h-index 29 · 7 papers with 100+ citations · prime mission ended 2003

Lifetime

Scope Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the prime mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Every tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. Methods

Key measures

Active Mission Window · papers December 1, 2001 to October 1, 2006
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed research papers we found for the mission. The list may not be complete. Methods10
CitationsCitations received by the tracked publications in the selected scope. The two windowed scopes count each paper’s citations only within its citation window. Methods108
Mean citations per publicationMean citations: total citations divided by tracked publications in the selected scope. One blockbuster paper can lift it. Methods11
Median citations per publicationMedian citations: the middle paper’s citation count in the selected scope; half the papers have more, half fewer. A single blockbuster sways it less than the mean. Methods8
Uncited publicationsUncited publications: papers with no citations in the selected scope. Methods0 (0%)
Top-10% creditTop 10%: among the 10% most-cited papers from this division’s missions, ranked against papers published around the same time. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods1 · 0.09% of division
Top-1% creditTop 1%: among the 1% most-cited papers from this division’s missions within the selected window. Not adjusted for publication year. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods0 · 0% of division
Lifetime indices · every tracked publication to date, in any scope
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods29
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods61
m-index, as of October 4, 2026m-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes, so it belongs to the date shown; it also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods1.2
toritori (total research impact, from ADS): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Methods21
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Methods189

Tracked publications

  1. The chemical make-up of the Sun: A 2020 vision

    Asplund, M., 2021, A&A

    821 citations

  2. The Oxygen Isotopic Composition of the Sun Inferred from Captured Solar Wind

    McKeegan, K. D., 2011, Sci

    321 citations

  3. A ¹⁵N-Poor Isotopic Composition for the Solar System As Shown by Genesis Solar Wind Samples

    Marty, B., 2011, Sci

    247 citations

  4. Noble gas composition of the solar wind as collected by the Genesis mission

    Heber, Veronika S., 2009, GeCoA

    194 citations

  5. Nitrogen isotope variations in the Solar System

    Füri, Evelyn, 2015, NatGe

    168 citations

  6. The Genesis Discovery Mission: Return of Solar Matter to Earth

    Burnett, D. S., 2003, SSRv

    157 citations

  7. Solar Wind Neon from Genesis: Implications for the Lunar Noble Gas Record

    Grimberg, Ansgar, 2006, Sci

    117 citations

  8. Heavy noble gases in solar wind delivered by Genesis mission

    Meshik, Alex, 2014, GeCoA

    98 citations

  9. Oxygen Isotopic Composition of the Sun and Mean Oxygen Isotopic Composition of the Protosolar Silicate Dust: Evidence from Refractory Inclusions

    Krot, Alexander N., 2010, ApJ

    88 citations

  10. Isotopic Mass Fractionation of Solar Wind: Evidence from Fast and Slow Solar Wind Collected by the Genesis mission

    Heber, Veronika S., 2012, ApJ

    86 citations

  11. Refractory inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites: Records of early solar system processes

    Krot, Alexander N., 2019, M&PS

    86 citations

  12. Nitrogen isotopes in the recent solar wind from the analysis of Genesis targets: Evidence for large scale isotope heterogeneity in the early solar system

    Marty, Bernard, 2010, GeCoA

    84 citations

  13. The Apollo SWC Experiment: Results, Conclusions, Consequences

    Geiss, J., 2004, SSRv

    83 citations

  14. The Genesis Solar-Wind Collector Materials

    Jurewicz, A. J. G., 2003, SSRv

    75 citations

  15. Genesis on-board determination of the solar wind flow regime

    Neugebauer, M., 2003, SSRv

    69 citations

  16. A light carbon isotope composition for the Sun

    Lyons, James R., 2018, NatCo

    68 citations

  17. Elemental Abundances of the Bulk Solar Wind: Analyses from Genesis and ACE

    Reisenfeld, D. B., 2007, SSRv

    61 citations

  18. Atmospheric ³⁸Ar/ ³⁶Ar in the mantle: Implications for the nature of the terrestrial parent bodies

    Raquin, Aude, 2009, E&PSL

    58 citations

  19. Helium, neon, and argon composition of the solar wind as recorded in gold and other Genesis collector materials

    Pepin, Robert O., 2012, GeCoA

    54 citations

  20. Constraints on Neon and Argon Isotopic Fractionation in Solar Wind

    Meshik, Alex, 2007, Sci

    53 citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Astrophysics Data System (ADS) for peer-reviewed articles naming Genesis in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces. SciX is ADS’s current interface.

(((=abs:"Genesis mission" OR =abs:"Genesis space mission" OR =abs:"Genesis spacecraft" OR =abs:"Genesis sample return" OR =abs:"Genesis Discovery mission" OR =abs:"Genesis solar wind" OR =abs:"Genesis solar-wind" OR =abs:"Genesis probe" OR =abs:"Genesis collector" OR =abs:"Genesis collectors" OR =abs:"Genesis concentrator" OR =abs:"Genesis target" OR =abs:"Genesis targets" OR =abs:"Genesis samples" OR =abs:"Genesis capsule" OR =abs:"Genesis array" OR =abs:"Genesis regime") AND (abs:"solar" OR =abs:"Ion Monitor" OR =abs:"Electron Monitor" OR =abs:"space weather"))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2001-12 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "AIASJ" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NewSc" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (12)

  1. Far-out surface science: radiation-induced surface processes in the solar system Engineering/technique review of radiation-induced surface processes; Genesis is named only in a closing list of future missions, before any sample returned. Not a Genesis science result. Decision 👨
  2. A new time-of-flight instrument for quantitative surface analysis Engineering paper describing the Argonne time-of-flight mass spectrometer; Genesis samples are named only as an intended application. Decision 👨
  3. Experimental Test of Self-Shielding in Vacuum Ultraviolet Photodissociation of CO Engineering/laboratory paper on CO photodissociation at a synchrotron; Genesis is named only as a possible application in the final sentence. Decision 👨
  4. 2006PhDT.......207P Engineering thesis on multi-body transfer trajectory design; Genesis is cited only as a motivating example. Decision 👨
  5. 2005SpWea...311003L Editorial on the National Space Weather Program assessment; incidental mention, not a science paper. Decision 👨
  6. Oral Histories in Meteoritics and Planetary Science—XXI: Donald Burnett Oral-history interview with Donald Burnett; incidental mention, not a science paper. Decision 👨
  7. MegaSIMS: a SIMS/AMS hybrid for measurement of the Sun's oxygen isotopic composition Engineering/instrument paper describing the UCLA MegaSIMS instrument before Genesis samples were analyzed; no measurement. Decision 👨
  8. White light interferometry for quantitative surface characterization in ion sputtering experiments Engineering/technique paper on white-light interferometry; a Genesis Si collector is only a demonstration surface, no solar-wind result. Decision 👨
  9. The Genesis Solar Wind Concentrator: Flight and Post-Flight Conditions and Modeling of Instrumental Fractionation Instrument performance and modeling paper on the Genesis Concentrator flight and post-flight fractionation; not a solar-wind composition result. Decision 👨
  10. Steps toward accurate large-area analyses of Genesis solar wind samples: evaluation of surface cleaning methods using total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry Sample-preparation method paper evaluating surface cleaning of Genesis samples by TXRF; no solar-wind result. Decision 👨
  11. Multiscale Magnetic Reconnection in the Genesis of Young Slow Solar Wind False positive. Parker Solar Probe study of slow solar wind origin; "genesis" is the common noun. Decision 👨
  12. Laser Ablation (193 nm), Purification and Determination of Very Low Concentrations of Solar Wind Nitrogen Implanted in Targets from the GENESIS Spacecraft Engineering/method paper describing the CRPG laser-ablation extraction and purification line for Genesis nitrogen; reports blanks, not a solar-wind result. Decision 👨