Author Topic: OSIRIS-REx/OSIRIS-APEX Mission Updates (Read 196900 times)

catdlr · « **Reply #260 on:** 09/14/2023 07:22 pm »

September 14, 2023
MEDIA ADVISORY M23-117

NASA to Reveal Asteroid Sample Grabbed in Space, Delivered to Earth

The first asteroid sample collected in space and brought to Earth by the United States will be unveiled at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Wednesday, Oct. 11, and media accreditation is now open.

NASA will host a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT for the reveal, which will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

During the event, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) science team will discuss an initial analysis of the sample, which is expected to land on Sunday, Sept. 24, in the Utah desert.

After the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft enters Earth’s atmosphere and safely lands, NASA experts will collect the rocks and dust retrieved from the asteroid Bennu inside the capsule, and bring the sample to NASA Johnson for examination in a pristine curation facility.

News conference participants include:

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
Francis McCubbin, OSIRIS-REx deputy curation lead, NASA Johnson
Daniel Glavin, OSIRIS-REx sample analysis lead, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt
Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson
This event has limited availability due to space in the facility. U.S. and international media interested in attending must request participation in advance. The deadline for U.S. media is 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, and 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, for international media. Credential media can request accreditation by contacting the NASA Johnson newsroom at: 281-483-5111 or [email protected]. Selected participants will receive additional information after they register. NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.

Media on-site will have the opportunity to interact with subject matter experts and see the sample live (via video feed) from the curation laboratory.

Touchdown at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range near Dugway, Utah, on Sept. 24, will mark the end of a seven-year journey to explore the asteroid Bennu, collect a sample from its surface, and deliver it to Earth.

The next phase of the mission, which includes both curation and research activities, will kick off after the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule arrives at Johnson on Monday, Sept. 25. The curation team will carefully disassemble the sample container to extract the bulk of the sample and researchers will perform a first-look analysis of the sample, the results of which will be discussed for the first time Oct. 11.

NASA built a new OSIRIS-REx Sample Curation Laboratory where curators from the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science team will manage distribution of samples to scientists around the world over the coming years. Those scientists seek to learn more about how our planet and solar system formed, as well as the origin of organics that may have led to life on Earth. A portion of the sample will also be reserved for research decades from now, utilizing technologies that will improve over the years.

Johnson houses the world’s largest collection of astromaterials from the solar system under one roof, including samples from asteroids, comets, Mars, the Moon, Sun, and dust from other stars. Scientists use world-class laboratories to perform research on planetary materials and the space environment to investigate the origin and evolution of our solar system and beyond.

To learn more about OSIRIS-REx, please visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

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This artist's concept shows the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security - Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with the Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism or TAGSAM.
This artist's concept shows the OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security - Regolith Explorer) spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with the Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism or TAGSAM. The mission aims to return a sample of Bennu's surface coating to Earth for study as well as return detailed information about the asteroid and it's trajectory.

Credits: NASA

catdlr · « **Reply #261 on:** 09/18/2023 08:58 pm »

September 18, 2023
MEDIA ADVISORY M23-120

NASA Finalizes Coverage for First US Asteroid Sample Landing

The first asteroid sample collected in space by NASA will arrive on Earth Sunday, Sept. 24, and there are multiple events leading up to its landing.

NASA’s live coverage of the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) capsule landing starts at 10 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. MDT) and will air on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Watch online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

In addition to the English broadcast, NASA will stream coverage of the landing beginning at 10 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. MDT) in Spanish on X, Facebook, and YouTube.

Postlanding news conference

A post-landing news conference will occur about 5 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. MDT), when the sample capsule arrives at a temporary clean room on the military range. Coverage will air on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

To submit questions during the briefing, media must send their full name, affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours before the start of the call to Alana Johnson at: [email protected].

Prelanding media call

Prior to landing, the agency also will host a media call to provide a status update at 3 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. MDT) on Friday, Sept. 22.

To successfully deliver a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, spacecraft operators need to ensure OSIRIS-REx travels at the right speed and direction to release the sample capsule into the atmosphere, landing it on the U.S. Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. Mission leadership will discuss the results of the spacecraft’s final trajectory maneuvers, and expectations for the capsule’s entry, descent, and landing, and plans for recovery operations in Utah’s western desert.

Audio of the call will stream live on NASA’s website.

Participants include:

Lori Glaze, director, Planetary Sciences Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx program manager, Lockheed Martin
Nicole Lunning, OSIRIS-REx curation lead, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston
Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona
To participate in the teleconference, members of the media must send their full name, affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours before the start of the call to Alana Johnson at [email protected].

Two more OSIRIS-REx activities happening Sept. 22 include:

Remote interviews: NASA will offer live and taped interviews to reporters with members of the OSIRIS-REx team and subject matter experts. Interviews will be conducted remotely using video chat programs, primarily Zoom, in nine-minute time slots beginning at 6 a.m. EDT (4 a.m. MDT). Media can request interviews< /a> online.
Stamp first day of issue ceremony: The U.S. Postal Service will hold a first day of issue ceremony for a stamp featuring OSIRIS-REx at Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City at 11 a.m. MDT. The USPS news release provides more information about the event, which media are invited to attend.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator. The university leads the science team and the mission's science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and provides flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Curation for OSIRIS-REx, including processing the sample when it arrives on Earth, will take place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. International partnerships on this mission include the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter instrument from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and asteroid sample science collaboration with JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Hayabusa2 mission.

OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

To learn more about the asteroid sample recovery mission visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

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Picture:

A training model of the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule is seen during a drop test on Aug. 30, 2023, at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range in preparation for the retrieval of the actual capsule on Sept. 24.

Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber

Targeteer · « **Reply #262 on:** 09/19/2023 11:02 pm »

https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/19/osiris-rex-makes-final-course-adjustment-before-sept-24-sample-delivery/

OSIRIS-REx Makes Final Course Adjustment Before Sept. 24 Sample Delivery

On Sept. 17, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx engineers slightly shifted the spacecraft’s trajectory to refine the landing location of its sample capsule, which the spacecraft will deliver to Earth on Sept. 24. The spacecraft briefly fired its thrusters Sunday to change its velocity by 7 inches per minute (3 millimeters per second) relative to Earth.

This final correction maneuver moved the sample capsule’s predicted landing location east by nearly 8 miles, or 12.5 kilometers, to the center of its predetermined landing zone inside a 36-mile by 8.5-mile (58-kilometer by 14-kilometer) area on the Defense Department’s Utah Test and Training Range.

Sunday’s maneuver was a tweak of a critical maneuver on Sept. 10, which set the spacecraft on course to release its sample capsule, with rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, from 63,000 miles (or 102,000 kilometers) above Earth’s surface this weekend.

The spacecraft is currently about 1.8 million miles, or 2.8 million kilometers, away, traveling at about 14,000 mph (about 23,000 kph) toward Earth.

catdlr · « **Reply #263 on:** 09/21/2023 09:02 am »

Quote

Sep 20, 2023
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx curation team at Johnson Space Center rehearse sample opening in the newly built OSIRIS-REx Curation laboratory.

NASA Video

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #264 on:** 09/21/2023 03:46 pm »

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #265 on:** 09/22/2023 05:16 am »

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1705024971972493672

Quote

The OSIRIS-REX asteroid sampler, returning from Bennu, entered the Earth's gravitational sphere at 2200 UTC Sep 21 on a 22 x -33339 km x 43.3 deg hyperbolic orbit. (The negative apogee value is a formal number describing the shape of the hyperbola, corresponding to e =1.62)

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #266 on:** 09/22/2023 10:21 am »

Live stream for the return on Sunday:

Blackstar · « **Reply #267 on:** 09/22/2023 05:16 pm »

Quote from: Targeteer on 09/11/2023 09:45 pm

https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/11/osiris-rex-adjusts-course-to-target-sample-capsules-landing-zone/
But now, the spacecraft is set up to release the capsule to enter the atmosphere just off the coast of California at 8:42 a.m. MDT / 10:42 a.m. EDT.

Traveling at a precise speed and angle, it will land approximately 13 minutes after release in a 36-mile by 8.5-mile (58-kilometer by 14-kilometer) predetermined area on the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range southwest of Salt Lake City.
Meanwhile, about 20 minutes after releasing the sample capsule, the spacecraft will fire its engines to divert past Earth and onto its next mission to asteroid Apophis: OSIRIS-APEX (OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer).

Just quoting this to highlight the timeline. NASA TV coverage starts at 10 am Eastern, and reentry starts at 10:42 Eastern, with landing about 13 minutes after that.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #268 on:** 09/22/2023 07:04 pm »

https://twitter.com/nasa/status/1705296142802538799

Quote

Listen live: Ahead of the #OSIRISREx asteroid sample return set for Sept. 24, mission experts discuss what to expect for the capsule’s entry, descent, and landing, as well as plans for recovery operations in Utah’s western desert.

Targeteer · « **Reply #269 on:** 09/23/2023 07:41 pm »

Not surprising that constant contact via two terminals on DSN has been maintained for the last few days

Targeteer · « **Reply #270 on:** 09/23/2023 08:24 pm »

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/09/First_view_of_OSIRIS-REx_returning_with_asteroid_sample?fbclid=IwAR2WrrJwlBH8hnzRGVoN1r6ygVinAxVF-WEEJ1Y6Z4uoomnH2lcTRS-ruqM

Is it a spacecraft? An asteroid? Well, both. This small central speck is the first image of a spacecraft on its way home, carrying with it a sample from an asteroid hundreds-of-millions, if-not-billions-of-years old. The spacecraft is NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the asteroid is Bennu.

On Sunday 24 September, the mission will drop its rocky sample off to fall through Earth’s atmosphere and land safely back home, before it continues on to study the once rather scary asteroid Apophis.

Spotted on 16 September by ESA’s Optical Ground Station (OGS) telescope in Tenerife, OSIRIS-REx was 4.66 million km from Earth. This image is a combination of 90 individual images, each 36-second exposures. They have been combined in a way that takes into account the motion of the spacecraft, which is not travelling in a straight line, causing the seemingly stretched background stars to curve and warp.

ESA’s 1-metres OGS telescope was originally built to observe space debris in orbit and test laser communication technologies, but since broadened its horizons to also conduct surveys and follow-up observations of near-Earth asteroids and make night-time astronomy observations and has even discovered dozens of minor planets.

For this observation, ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC) took over the reins, directing it at the returning asteroid explorer. The NEOCC, part of the Agency’s Planetary Defence Office, is a little like Europe’s asteroid sorting hat; the centre and its experts are scanning the skies for risky space rocks, computing their orbits and calculating their risk of impact.

From our small but mighty Space Safety telescope, we say ‘Hello, OSIRIS-REx, good luck NASA and welcome safely to Earth, asteroid Bennu!’.

(Read all about ESA’s Hera mission that launches next year to examine the first test of asteroid deflection, the first mission to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system.)

ChrisC · « **Reply #271 on:** 09/23/2023 09:56 pm »

I don't know why, but the image attached just above is corrupted (which is probably why in-forum preview isn't working). Also it's the "pillars" preview shown on the page, whereas the image I'm attaching here is the "high res download" they offered (and is perversely a much smaller file).

FYI, on URLs that came from Facebook, you can trim off the "fbclid" and everything after it. That stuff is just privacy tracking for Mark Z and company. Ditto for "utm" stuff typically found on the end of Google URLs. Often (but not always!) everything starting with the question mark (?) is just tracking garbage. Here's the URL without the tracking:

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/09/First_view_of_OSIRIS-REx_returning_with_asteroid_sample

ChrisC · « **Reply #272 on:** 09/23/2023 10:06 pm »

This Sept. 8th blog entry from NASA never got captured here:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/08/heres-how-sept-24-asteroid-sample-delivery-will-work/

It's pretty much superceded by now, but it does have one very useful image that hadn't been posted here, so I'm doing that now. I'll be using this to show my friends and family on the west coast how to try to spot the capsule reentering the atmosphere as it crosses over the west coast on Sunday morning.

I'm going to look for it next, but has anyone seen a proper ground track, showing the track from overhead (plan view) rather than this severe perspective rendering? I want to know how it tracks relative to the Bay Area, so I know which way to tell folks to face (e.g. N vs S) before they "look up". EDIT: according to Figure 12 in this research paper published today, the ground track passes directly over San Francisco.

mtakala24 · « **Reply #273 on:** 09/23/2023 11:06 pm »

Is there a time table with UTC times? I spent 15 minutes looking for one but could not find any.

Yeknom-Ecaps · « **Reply #274 on:** 09/24/2023 02:14 am »

Does anyone know where in the UTTR the capsule is targeting to return? The UTTR is huge - just trying to understand where in it the capsule is targeting the return.

Thanks.

ChrisC · « **Reply #275 on:** 09/24/2023 02:45 am »

Quote from: Yeknom-Ecaps on 09/24/2023 02:14 am

Does anyone know where in the UTTR the capsule is targeting to return? The UTTR is huge - just trying to understand where in it the capsule is targeting the return.

Yup! NSF's own preview article from three weeks ago has an image of the landing ellipse.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/09/osiris-rex-tests/

EDIT: Spaceflight101 also has one here:

https://spaceflight101.com/osiris-rex/osiris-rex-mission-profile/

ChrisC · « **Reply #276 on:** 09/24/2023 02:50 am »

Quote from: mtakala24 on 09/23/2023 11:06 pm

Is there a time table with UTC times? I spent 15 minutes looking for one but could not find any.

In time you will gain the google-fu, young padewan.

https://www.space.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-return-landing-what-time

Near the bottom is a timeline with times in MT (local), ET and GMT. Raw text copy/paste follows; see article for better formatting:

Quote

OSIRIS-REx landing Timeline
TIME   SEQUENCE
6:42 a.m. EDT (4:42 a.m. MDT, 1042 GMT)   OSIRIS-REx releases the asteroid sample container return capsule.
7:02 a.m. EDT (5:02 a.m. MDT, 1102 GMT)   OSIRIS-REx spacecraft fires thrusters to set course away from Earth, and toward asteroid Apophis.
10:42 a.m. EDT (8:42 a.m. MDT, 1442 GMT)   OSIRIS-REx return capsule enters Earth atmosphere at an altitude of 82 miles (132 kilometers), traveling 27,650 mph (44,498 kph).
10:43 a.m. EDT (8:43 a.m. MDT, 1443 GMT)   OSIRIS-REx return capsule experiences highest temperatures, reaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).
10:44 a.m. EDT (8:44 a.m. MDT, 1444 GMT)   Deployment of the return capsule's drogue parachute, at 102,300 feet (31,181 meters) in altitude.
10:45 a.m. EDT (8:45 a.m. MDT, 1445 GMT)   OSIRIS-REx spacecraft makes its closest approach to Earth, passing just 484 miles (779 kilometers) away.
10:50 a.m. EDT (8:50 a.m. MDT, 1450 GMT)   Deployment of the return capsule's main parachute, at 5,050 feet (1,539 meters) in altitude.
10:55 a.m. EDT (8:55 a.m. MDT, 1455 GMT)   Touchdown on Earth of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return capsule, carrying material from the surface of Bennu.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #277 on:** 09/24/2023 05:41 am »

https://twitter.com/virtualtelescop/status/1705732865516798329

Quote

WE DID IT! Here it is the #OSIRISREx spacecraft approaching our planet to deliver its precious sample of asteroid #Bennu @OSIRISREx @AsteroidDay

Cristiano · « **Reply #278 on:** 09/24/2023 05:59 am »

If anyone is interested in some data, I created this page: http://satprobe.altervista.org/sonde_orx/22_entry.html (ORX main page: http://satprobe.altervista.org/sonde_orx/0_idx.html).
All the graphs are obtained from NAIF's data files and SPICE library.

dsmillman · « **Reply #279 on:** 09/24/2023 09:03 am »

From the NASA blog:

OSIRIS-REx ‘GO’ for Sample Capsule Release

Following a team briefing minutes ago, operators gave the “go” for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to release its sample capsule. The poll of the lead engineers and military personnel was unanimous.

Each team lead responded based on a list of criteria. Are projections showing that the capsule will land in its target area? Yes. Do the latest predictions of peak heat and peak deceleration levels that the spacecraft will endure still meet our expectations? Yes. Is the spacecraft ready to release the capsule and divert itself away from Earth? Yes. Is the team ready for the day? Yes. Is the range clear? Yes.

Within an hour, engineers at Lockheed Martin’s Mission Support Area in Denver will send the release commands to the spacecraft, which will cause the spacecraft to release the capsule at about 6:42 a.m. EDT (4:42 a.m. MDT) from around 63,000 miles of Earth’s surface – about one-third the distance from Earth to the Moon.

FST edit to add: https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/24/osiris-rex-go-for-sample-capsule-release/