OSIRIS-REx, the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, will be the first US probe to sample an asteroid. OLA will create precise, high-resolution 3D maps of asteroid Bennu’s entire surface, helping scientists select the best site to extract a sample for return to Earth.
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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.
These “may be the precursors to life in Earth or elsewhere in our solar system”.
Only one other spacecraft, Japan’s Hayabusa, has previously returned samples from an asteroid to Earth, but it collected less than a milligram of material because of a series of problems. Scientists suspect Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of water and organic molecules found on Earth.
“Sample return is really at the forefront of planetary exploration”, said SIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona. “It is an extraordinary use of our intellect and treasure to elevate humankind, to help us know our place in the cosmos”.
“We are a trailblazer for that kind of activity because our science requires it”.
NASA probe blasts off on quest to collect asteroid samples was posted in Sci-Tech of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on September 09, 2016 and was last updated on September 09, 2016.
NASA hopes the solar-powered OSIRIS-REx will bring back the largest payload of space samples since the Apollo era of the 1960s and 1970s, when American explorers collected and carried back to Earth some 800 pounds (360 kilograms) of moon rocks. Ground tests, however, yielded eight times that in a single scoop. It will the survey the asteroid and search for potential locations to land briefly. A hundred engineers, including graduates and undergraduates from both universities, worked almost five years to build and test the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
The sample collector will shoot a bit of compressed air at the asteroid and gather the dust it kicks up in a container.
Mike thought Osiris-Rex looked like a bird, with its twin solar wings and robotic arm outstretched for a sample grab.
Yet another aim of the mission is to measure how sunlight can nudge asteroids as they orbit, a phenomenon known as the Yarkovsky effect, so scientists can better predict the long-term risk of asteroids like Bennu colliding with Earth.
The 19-story rocket, built and flown for NASA by United Launch Alliance, lifted off at 7:05 p.m. (2305 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, hurling the satellite explorer Osiris-Rex on its voyage to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The odds are less than one-tenth of 1 percent, according to Lauretta.
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It was the Japanese space agency JAXA that first proved sample collection from an asteroid was possible. The final maneuver will involve steering the spacecraft away from Earth after the sample re-entry capsule has been jettisoned and placing the spacecraft into a stable orbit around the sun.
