NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrives in the first furnace of the asteroid model



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This example shows NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft storing a sample collected by Pennu on October 20, 2020. The probe uses the hand of its touch-and-go (Doxam) pattern acquisition mechanism to position the Doxam collector’s head on the proceeds of the sample. Capsule (SRC). (Credit: NASA / University of Arizona, Duson)

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission made an initial deposit on Tuesday, October 27, to provide maximum protection and return possible for the large sample collected from the surface of the asteroid Pennu.

On October 22, the OSIRIRS-Rex mission team fills the spacecraft collector’s head with materials collected from the surface of the pen – more than two ounces (60 g) of work are required – and some of these particles. pattern acquisition mechanism (TAGSAM) slowly comes out of the collection head.

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A mylar door in the TAGSAM allows material to easily enter the collector head and must be closed as soon as the particles have passed. However, large rocks that do not completely pass through the flap in the TAGSAM appear to open the flap, thus allowing parts of the sample to escape.

Because the first sample collection event was so successful, NASA’s Directorate of Science Mission proposed to the mission team to expedite sample storage, originally scheduled for November 2, and in the prototype return capsule (SRC ) of the spacecraft to minimize sample loss.

Dante Loretta, OSIRS-Rex chief analyst at the University of Arizona at Duson, said, “The team is working around the clock to expedite the storage term so that this object can be protected as much as possible before return to Earth “.

Unlike other spacecraft operations that run OSIRIS-REx automatically on a full line, model storage is done in stages and requires team supervision and input. The team sends preliminary commands to the spacecraft to initiate the Stow line, and as OSIRIS-Rex completes each passage of the line, the spacecraft returns the telemetry and images to the team on Earth and waits for the team to confirm they are proceeding with the line. next stage.

The signals currently take just over 18.5 minutes to travel in one direction between Earth and the spacecraft, so 37 minutes of communication is each phase of the traffic time sequence factor. Throughout the process, the mission team continues to evaluate Doxam’s wrist alignment to ensure that the collector’s head is properly positioned in the SRC. A new image sequence has been added to monitor the leakage material from the collector head and to ensure that no particles interfere with the storage process. The mission predicts that the entire storage process will take several days, after which the spacecraft’s return to Earth model will be securely sealed in the SRC.

“I am proud of the outstanding work of the OSIRIS-REx team and the success of this phase,” said Thomas Surbuchen, NASA Associate Scientist. “The mission is well positioned to send a substantial historical model to an asteroid land, and they are doing everything right in time to protect that precious cargo.”

NASA’s Goddard Space Aviation Center in Green Belt, Maryland provides general labor management, systems engineering, and occupational safety and assurance for OSIRIS-REx. University of Arizona, Duson Scientific monitoring of this project leads to planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin in Denver built the space shuttle and provided flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace in Tempe, Arizona are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx probe. Osiris-Rex is the third mission of NASA’s new frontier program, run by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

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