NASA to Conduct Rehearsal Sample Collection of Asteroid Bennu With OSIRIS-REx Written 11 August 2020
An illustration showing the trajectory of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, short for short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer, during the Matchpoint rehearsal for the initial steps of an Oct. 20 sample collection attempt | NASA; Aerospace America
Aerospace America reports that on Tuesday, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft “will attempt a very close encounter with the near-Earth asteroid Bennu 300,000 kilometers away.” The rehearsal “is the last of two leading up to” the attempt to collect a sample from the asteroid, which is scheduled for October 20. During the four-hour rehearsal, the spacecraft will fire “its thrusters to slow itself and start descending toward Bennu from its 870-meter orbit.” OSIRIS-REx “will unfold its robotic arm to point the circular sampling head toward the surface, while moving its two solar panels into a Y-shape so they would not collide with any boulders. OSIRIS-REx will stop at 125 meters and adjust its trajectory if necessary, then fire its thrusters to bring it within 50 meters of the surface.” Then, for the Matchpoint burn, the “thrusters will fire to slow the spacecraft and match Bennu’s rotation, until it is 40 meters above Nightingale.”
Full Story (Aerospace America)