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NASA’s 1st asteroid-sampler poised for evening liftoff
Several viewing parties have been planned along Florida’s Space Coast to watch OSIRIS-REx launch into space aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
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Thousands gathered to witness the evening launch of Osiris-Rex, a robotic hunter that looks something like a bird with its solar wings.
“We really want to understand this phenomenon, so that we can better understand asteroid Bennu and apply that understanding to all asteroids not only in near-earth space but throughout our solar system”, he said. Perched on top of the 19-story rocket was NASA’s robot explorer Osiris-Rex, built by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) to carry out the seven-year, $1 billion mission to and from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.
It’ll take the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft two years to get to the asteroid and another two years before it can land and collect samples. Osiris-Rex’s bounty, however, should surpass that; Lauretta and his team are hoping for at least 60 grams of dust and gravel, or 2 ounces’ worth. Then the TAGSAM will release a burst of nitrogen gas, causing any loose material on Bennu to shoot up into the sampling device.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is tasked with traveling to Bennu, a 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid. Spacecraft managers call it “the gentle high five”. “It’s exciting!” said Bill Nye, “The Science Guy”, chief executive officer of the Planetary Society. Despite extensive observations of Bennu from ground and space telescopes, no one knows exactly what to expect there, and it could be hard if not impossible to anchor a spacecraft on the surface, Lauretta said.
The launch came 50 years to the day that the first “Star Trek” episode aired on TV.
Scientists will ultimately select a promising site to sample and command Osiris-Rex to fly close enough to Bennu so that the probe’s 11-foot-long (3.4 meter) robot arm can touch the asteroid’s surface. A third grader, Michael Puzio, proposed Bennu, the name of an Egyptian mythological deity linked to rebirth. The estimated cost of the mission is more than $800 million.
“An asteroid that comes close to the Earth occasionally and it’s from a class of asteroids that are very primitive – unchanged since the formation of the solar system”, said Dr. Jim Bell, a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU.
Aerojet Rocketdyne propulsion is involved in every phase of the mission, including the Earth-departure phase to fine tune the Earth escape velocity; the cruise phase to adjust trajectory and ensure a perfectly accurate trajectory for the Earth swing-by and arrival at Bennu.
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However, the risk of a collision during this 24-year period is low – just 0.037 percent, or a one in 2,700 chance.