Another fascinating news from NASA; our adventurer spacecraft OSIRIS-REx is going to have its next most dangerous rehearsal.? This jump is going to bring it very close to Bennu. Most crucial moment to test its robotic sample collecting event.
For all of those who are reading the topic for the first time let me give a short intro about the hero of our action-packed performance the OSIRIS-REx, the first-ever attempt made by NASA to land on an asteroid called Bennu. Cool isn’t it?
So why we are interested in this particular asteroid is that, this one has properties of a Comet and to learn about the substances that present on its surface having age approximate equal to the age of the origin of our solar system. Well, there is a mere chance that after some centuries this tiny villain whose speed is increasing after every revolution might collide with our earth. So, in short, to learn about the origin as well as the suspicious end, the scientific community is looking forward to extracting materials from the surface of Bennu. OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) had started its journey towards this asteroid on 2016 September 8. The process of getting the materials from the surface for studies is not as easy as we think. For this herculean task, the OSIRIS-REx team is preparing for an experimental flight towards the sample site Nightingale, using newly conceived techniques before the actual task.
Let’s see where our hero is right now, the OSIRIS-REx is right now in the premises of Bennu and is ready for the first rehearsal known as Checkpoint rehearsal on April 14, where this practice would help to estimate whether the system is ready for the operation ensuring the spacecraft’s imaging, navigation, and ranging systems and giving a chance to validate Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) guidance system using the velocity and position measurements.
As all of you know about the COVID 19 scenario all the scientists behind this work are presently working remotely and only a few would assemble to ensure this mission’s success. After a second rehearsal in the coming June OSIRIS-REx would dive towards the Bennu in August and is expected to bring the sample towards earth in 2021 and enters the earth on 2023 September 24.
During the full touchdown sequence, the spacecraft uses three separate thruster firings to make its way to the asteroid’s surface. After an orbit departure burn, the spacecraft executes the Checkpoint maneuver at 410 ft (125 m) above Bennu, which adjusts the spacecraft’s position and speed down toward the point of the third burn. This third maneuver, called “Matchpoint,” occurs at approximately 164 ft (50 m) from the asteroid’s surface and places the spacecraft on a trajectory that matches the rotation of Bennu as it further descends toward the targeted touchdown spot.
The scientific community is looking forward to the Checkpoint rehearsal, which is a four-hour rehearsal where OSIRIS-REx would be leaving its safe orbit moving towards the surface of Bennu and then using the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) the arm of the spacecraft which is automated and using the NFT guidance would dive towards the targeted location nightingale before reaching 125m the checkpoint altitude there would be a Y-configuration of its solar arrays which would prevent further penetration of the surface of Bennu and by doing a back-away burn reconfiguring itself and preparing for retrieval.
All of this info, in short, says that during this rehearsal the team would check whether OSIRIS-REx is ready to perform according to our commands and to collect the samples as we expect to ensure the success of this mission. Let’s hope that the mission would be a success and would be a key to unlock the mysteries of our origin as well as the idea to avoid a possible conflict with Earth.
– Krupa V Mathew
Credits: NASA
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