Updates NASA OSIRIS-REx New Frontiers Mission Updates

[IronRain]

NASA has selected the OSIRIS-REx mission as the next New Frontiers mission. OSIRIS-REx will visit asteroid 1999 RQ36 and return with samples
that may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and life on
Earth.

After launching in 2016, OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) will approach asteroid 1999 RQ36 in 2019. Once the spacecraft is in sync with the asteroid, it will extend its sample collector and collect over 60 grams of material to return to Earth, making OSIRIS-REx the first U.S. asteroid sample return.

After traveling four years, OSIRIS-REx will approach the primitive, near Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36 in 2020. Once within three miles of the asteroid, the spacecraft will begin six months of comprehensive surface mapping. The science team then will pick a location from where the spacecraft's arm will take a sample. The spacecraft gradually will move closer to the site, and the arm will extend to collect more than two ounces of material for return to Earth in 2023. The mission, excluding the launch vehicle, is expected to cost approximately $800 million.

The sample will be stored in a capsule that will land at Utah's Test and Training Range in 2023. The capsule's design will be similar to that used by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which returned the world's first comet particles from comet Wild 2 in 2006. The OSIRIS-REx sample capsule will be taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The material will be removed and delivered to a dedicated research facility following stringent planetary protection protocol. Precise analysis will be performed that cannot be duplicated by spacecraft-based instruments.

RQ36 is approximately 1,900 feet in diameter or roughly the size of five football fields. The asteroid, little altered over time, is likely to represent a snapshot of our solar system's infancy. The asteroid also is likely rich in carbon, a key element in the organic molecules necessary for life. Organic molecules have been found in meteorite and comet samples, indicating some of life's ingredients can be created in space. Scientists want to see if they also are present on RQ36.

SpaceFlight Now also released an article about it: NASA picks robotic asteroid voyager for liftoff in 2016

 

[Unstung]

The Planetary Society: "ISIS: Blasting a Crater on Asteroid Bennu"

NASA’s OSIRIS- REx asteroid mission may get much more exciting thanks to an innovative proposal from a group led by Steve Chesley at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
...
Chesley proposes to send a second spacecraft, named ISIS, to Bennu that would perform a high speed crash on the surface.
...
The 2016 InSight Mars mission provides an option to launch ISIS at negligible additional cost on an orbit would take it twice past Mars and then to Bennu. The ISIS spacecraft itself would be built around an adapter ring designed to mate a main spacecraft to its launch vehicle and also provide attach points for small secondary spacecraft. The components needed to turn the adapter ring into a spacecraft – electronics, solar panels, propulsion, and a camera that would be used to track Bennu – would take the place of the secondary spacecraft. The final collision would be enabled by a JPL-developed AutoNav system, has been used for five previous NASA comet encounters, that would image Bennu in the final hours and steer the spacecraft to an impact.
...
The maximum velocity of the collision would be determined by the constraints of terminal approaches in which the AutoNav system can ensure an impact. The design team has approximately 1000 kg of spare launch mass on the InSight mission to use in designing the ISIS spacecraft, with a good portion of that needed for propellant for the trajectory maneuvers. The current nominal mission design would impact Bennu at 13.4 kilometers a second (48,000 kilometers or 30,000 miles per hour) with a dry spacecraft mass of around 420 kg. Chesley’s team estimates the energy of the impact would be equivalent to approximately nine tons of TNT, enough to create a crater tens of meters across.
[...]

Of course, OSIRIS-REx would be at the asteroid during the impact, but from a safe distance, to observe the changes made by the impactor and learn more about Bennu's composition.


Also, I may have pictures to share of OSIRIS-REx's thermal emission spectrometer in the future as it gets assembled.

 

[Unstung]

Both of NASA's planetary science missions to launch in 2016, OSIRIS-REx and InSight, are starting to take shape.

The Planetary Society: "The construction of OSIRIS-REx has begun!"

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit the spacecraft composite fabrication lab at Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems Company facility near Denver. The construction of OSIRIS-REx has begun!

The first flight components include the spacecraft structural parts – basically the skeleton of our spacecraft upon which all other components will be mounted. Spacecraft structures have to satisfy a lot of competing requirements. They have to perform over a wide range of temperatures, requiring very low thermal expansion of materials. In addition, they have to remain stable even when exposed to high doses of radiation. Another requirement is stiffness – measured as the natural frequency of a structure (like ringing a bell). These natural frequencies have to be low enough to prevent breakup during launch. Finally, the material needs to be lightweight, to minimize the amount of rocket fuel required to launch them into space, yet provide enough strength to support the rest of the flight system. Seeing the core structure being assembled demonstrated that OSIRIS-REx is no longer just a set of drawings and PowerPoint charts, it is starting to become a real spacecraft.

OSIRIS-REx is Lockheed Martin’s sixth generation composite interplanetary spacecraft. This design builds on many successful planetary missions including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Juno Jupiter orbiter, and the recently launched MAVEN mission to Mars. The OSIRIS-REx structure is built out of composite panels comprised of aluminum honeycomb sandwiched between graphite composite face sheets. This material is low density, has high strength, and is stable against degradation in the space environment. The composite sandwich panels provide stiffness and low mass, with doublers used as required to provide additional facesheet strength or thermal conductivity. When fully assembled, the entire structure will only weigh 160 kilograms (~350 pounds).

[...]

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More information on the structure and OSIRIS-REx's instrument decks (the aft, or bottom, deck is in the right image) can be found in the article. The cylinder seen in the left image will contain fuel in addition to supporting all the instruments. The current structure will undergo load testing in a few days.

 

[ISProgram]

The Planetary Society: "The OSIRIS-REx Design Reference Mission"

 

[orb]

Time to revive this thread :

 

[orb]

The Planetary Society Blog - Emily Lakdawalla: OSIRIS-REx is on the launch pad, ready for the big day

 

[boogabooga]

Could the shock wave from Falcon 9 have damaged the OSIRIS-REx or its launch vehicle?

 

[kuddel]

I find the "one SRB" configuration interesting.
Although it has been done before it still looks "funny" (asymmetric)

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Atlas 5 rocket cleared to launch NASA probe to Asteroid Bennu

Spaceflight101.com: Launch Readiness Review clears Atlas V for Thursday Liftoff with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx

Could the shock wave from Falcon 9 have damaged the OSIRIS-REx or its launch vehicle?

No. They stated already on the day of the explosion that it didn't cause any damages, both the vehicle and spacecraft are safe and it won't delay the launch.

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Photos: Atlas 5 rocket rolls out to launch asteroid sampling probe

Spaceflight101.com: On the Eve of Liftoff – OSIRIS-REx ready to depart for Asteroid Bennu

 

[orb]

NASASPaceflight.com: Atlas V to begin OSIRIS-REx’s round trip to the asteroid Bennu

Spaceflight Now:

• OSIRIS-REx reaches launch pad with money to spare
  
  
• Live coverage / Mission Status Center

The Planetary Society Blogs - Jason Davis: Carrying names of 440,000 well-wishers, OSIRIS-REx ready for journey to Bennu and back

Spaceflight101.com:

• OSIRIS-REx Mission & Trajectory Design
  
  
• Asteroid Bennu & the Yarkovsky Effect
  
  
• OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft
  
  
• OSIRIS-REx Instruments
  
  
• OSIRIS-REx Instrument Posters
  
  
• OSIRIS-REx TAGSAM (Touch-And-Go-Sample Acquisition Mechanism)
  
  
• Sample Return Capsule
  
  
• Atlas V & OSIRIS-REx Countdown and Launch Sequence Overview

Slate - Bad Astronomy: Thursday Night, NASA Launches a Mission to Sample an Asteroid ... and Bring a Piece of It Back to Earth

NASA: OSIRIS-REx

Live coverage:​

 

[boogabooga]

Liftoff!

---------- Post added at 07:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 PM ----------

SECO.

So far, so good!

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 PM ----------

Second cut-off

---------- Post added at 08:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 PM ----------

Spacecraft separation!

Solar array deployed!

 

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37309903

BBC article:

The US space agency (Nasa) has launched a mission to retrieve a rock sample from a 500m-wide asteroid called Bennu.
Scientists hope the material will reveal details about the formation of the planets, and improve our knowledge of how potentially dangerous space objects move through the Solar System.
The probe, dubbed Osiris-Rex, blasted away from Florida on an Atlas rocket at 19:05 local time (00:05 BST).
It will be seven years before it returns to Earth with its bounty.
This will be delivered in a capsule that will be parachuted down to the Utah desert on 24 September 2023.

 

[IronRain]

Some videos of the launch:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEdCAv-jXdw"]Atlas V OSIRIS-REx Rocket Cam - YouTube[/ame]

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Quick work saved the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission from nearby explosion

 

[orb]

 

[Nicholas Kang]

NASA Mission to Search for Rare Asteroids

Official NASA Press Statement:https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-mission-to-search-for-rare-asteroids

NASA’s first mission to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth will be multitasking during its two-year outbound cruise to the asteroid Bennu. On Feb. 9-20, the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security– Regolith Explorer) spacecraft will activate its onboard camera suite and commence a search for elusive “Trojan” asteroids.

In February 2017, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will undertake a search for Earth-Trojan asteroids while on its outbound journey to the asteroid Bennu. Earth Trojans are asteroids that share an orbit with Earth while remaining near a stable point 60 degrees in front of or behind the planet.
Credits: University of Arizona/Heather Roper.

Over 12 days, the OSIRIS-REx Earth-Trojan asteroid search will employ the spacecraft’s MapCam imager to methodically scan the space where Earth Trojans are expected to exist. Many of these observations will closely resemble MapCam’s planned activities during its upcoming search for satellites of asteroid Bennu, so the Trojan asteroid search serves as an early rehearsal for the mission's primary science operations.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Successful Deep Space Maneuver for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft

Official NASA Press Release: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddar...ace-maneuver-for-nasa-s-osiris-rex-spacecraft

New tracking data confirms that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft aced its first Deep Space Maneuver (DSM-1) on Dec. 28, 2016. The engine burn sets up the spacecraft for an Earth gravity assist this fall as it continues its two-year journey to the asteroid Bennu.

The large maneuver was the first using OSIRIS-REx’s main engines and resulted in a 964 miles per hour (431 meters per second) change in the vehicle’s velocity utilizing 780 pounds (354 kilograms) of fuel.

A smaller trajectory correction maneuver will be executed on Wednesday, Jan. 18 to refine the course for the Earth flyby, during which Earth's gravity will bend the OSIRIS-REx trajectory and slinging it toward a rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in the fall of 2018.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Begins Earth-Trojan Asteroid Search

Official NASA Press Statement:https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/osiris-rex-begins-earth-trojan-asteroid-search

OSIRIS-REx, currently on a two-year outbound journey to the asteroid Bennu, will spend almost two weeks searching for evidence of these small bodies.

The search commences today and continues through Feb. 20. On each observation day, the spacecraft’s MapCam camera will take 135 survey images that will be processed and examined by the mission’s imaging scientists at the University of Arizona, Tucson. The study plan also includes opportunities for MapCam to image Jupiter, several galaxies, and the main belt asteroids 55 Pandora, 47 Aglaja and 12 Victoria.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

She is back! :banana:

NASA: NASA’s Asteroid-Bound Spacecraft to Slingshot Past Earth

OSIRIS-REx will pass about 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) above Earth just before 12:52 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 22. Using Earth as a slingshot, the spacecraft will receive an assist to complete its journey to the asteroid Bennu. Bennu’s orbit around the Sun is tilted six degrees in comparison to Earth’s.

After traveling almost 600 million miles, OSIRIS-REx will approach Earth at a speed of about 19,000 mph. The spacecraft will fly over Australia before reaching its closest point to Earth over Antarctica, just south of Cape Horn, Chile.

“For about an hour, NASA will be out of contact with the spacecraft as it passes over Antarctica,” said Mike Moreau, the flight dynamics system lead at Goddard. “OSIRIS-REx uses the Deep Space Network to communicate with Earth, and the spacecraft will be too low relative to the southern horizon to be in view with either the Deep Space tracking station at Canberra, Australia, or Goldstone, California.”

NASA will regain communication with OSIRIS-REx at 1:40 p.m. EDT, roughly 50 minutes after closest approach.

At 4:52 p.m. EDT, four hours after closest approach, OSIRIS-REx will begin science observations of Earth and the Moon to calibrate its instruments.

During the gravity assist, OSIRIS-REx will pass through a region of space that is inhabited by Earth-orbiting satellites, and NASA has taken precautions to ensure the safety of the spacecraft as it flies through this area. The mission’s flight dynamics team designed a small maneuver that, if necessary, could be executed a day before closest approach to change the spacecraft’s trajectory slightly to avoid a potential collision between OSIRIS-REx and a satellite.