NASA's Asteroid Mission Completes Final Test Before Sampling Run
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NASA's Asteroid Mission Completes Final Test Before Sampling Run - ExtremeTech:
On August 11th, OSIRIS-REx completed its second dress rehearsal for the real deal. The spacecraft fired its engines to leave the "safe home orbit" and descend to around 410 feet (125 meters) above the surface. On the way down, OSIRIS-REx matched Bennu's rotation and came to an altitude of just 131 feet (40 meters) above Nightingale [crater]. In the video above[*], you can see Nightingale come into view at the top of the frame near the end. At that point, the engines fired again to move OSIRIS-REx back into a safe orbit.
With the practice runs complete, the team can focus all its efforts on the October 20th sample collection operation. On that day, OSIRIS-REx will drop all the way down and kiss the surface of Bennu with its sampling arm. A puff of nitrogen gas will (hopefully) launch particles from Bennu into the sample container. NASA hopes to collect about 60 grams of material from Bennu. Following the collection, OSIRIS-REx will head back to Earth with its precious cargo. The return capsule is currently scheduled to land in September 2023.
[*] Video on YouTube.
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