Planetary Science

Genesis

Sample Return · Competed · PI-led · Launched on August 8, 2001 · Completed · LCC: $212M/$411M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For Genesis, papers published December 1, 2001 to October 1, 2006. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For Genesis, papers published from 2003 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods70
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods3,985
Citation indices
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. Methods30
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. Methods63
m-indexm-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; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods1.3
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): 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. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods27
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. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods214

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (70)

All publications CSV · JSON

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

    Asplund, M., 2021, A&A

    935 lifetime citations

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

    McKeegan, K. D., 2011, Sci

    325 lifetime citations

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

    Marty, B., 2011, Sci

    251 lifetime citations

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

    Heber, Veronika S., 2009, GeCoA

    196 lifetime citations

  5. Nitrogen isotope variations in the Solar System

    Füri, Evelyn, 2015, NatGe

    171 lifetime citations

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

    Burnett, D. S., 2003, SSRv

    161 lifetime citations

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

    Grimberg, Ansgar, 2006, Sci

    119 lifetime citations

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

    Meshik, Alex, 2014, GeCoA

    101 lifetime citations

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

    Krot, Alexander N., 2019, M&PS

    89 lifetime citations

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

    Geiss, J., 2004, SSRv

    88 lifetime citations

  11. 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 lifetime citations

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

    Heber, Veronika S., 2012, ApJ

    86 lifetime citations

  13. 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 lifetime citations

  14. The Genesis Solar-Wind Collector Materials

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

    76 lifetime citations

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

    Neugebauer, M., 2003, SSRv

    70 lifetime citations

  16. A light carbon isotope composition for the Sun

    Lyons, James R., 2018, NatCo

    70 lifetime citations

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

    Reisenfeld, D. B., 2007, SSRv

    61 lifetime citations

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

    Raquin, Aude, 2009, E&PSL

    58 lifetime 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 lifetime citations

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

    Meshik, Alex, 2007, Sci

    53 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming Genesis in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

(((=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 "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (13)

  1. Far-out surface science: radiation-induced surface processes in the solar system Review of radiation-induced surface processes; names Genesis only among future missions. 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 Parker Solar Probe study of the slow solar wind; "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 👨
  13. The Solar System's first breath Nature staff news article reporting mission results; a news item, not research. Decision 🤖