NASA : NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Prepared for Mission to an Asteroid.- Nave espacial Osiris-Rex de la NASA preparado para la misión a un asteroide

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasas-osiris-rex-spacecraft-prepared-for-mission-to-an-asteroid

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is revealed after its protective cover is removed inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 21, 2016. The spacecraft traveled from Lockheed Martin's facility near Denver, Colorado to Kennedy to begin processing for its upcoming launch, targeted for Sept. 8 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. After launch, OSIRIS-REx - which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer - has an approximately two-year cruise to reach the asteroid Bennu in 2018.

 

Upon arrival, OSIRIS-REx will spend a year flying in close proximity to Bennu, its five instruments imaging the asteroid, documenting its lumpy shape, and surveying its chemical and physical properties. In 2020, OSIRIS-REx will collect a pristine sample of at least two ounces of the asteroid's surface material that will be returned back to Earth in 2023 for analysis. Bennu is part of the debris left over from the formation of the solar system. It is pristine enough to hold clues to solar system's origin and the source of water and organic molecules found on Earth.

Image Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

Last Updated: May 25, 2016

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags:  Asteroids, Bennu, Image of the Day, Kennedy Space Center, OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer),

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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NASA : Student-Built Experiment Integrated onto NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission .- La Misión NASA Osiris, tiene un experimento estudiante de la piedra integrada....

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., The Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS), El regolito de rayos X Espectrómetro de Imágenes (REXIS) determinará las abundancias elementales en la superficie del asteroide Bennu, complementando las capacidades de minerales y cartografía química proporcionadas por otros dos instrumentos en la nave espacial.
"Los estudiantes trabajaron muy duro para llegar a este punto", dijo Mike Donnelly, director del proyecto OSIRIS-Rex en el Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la NASA en Greenbelt, Maryland. "Es un gran logro para desarrollar un instrumento de vuelo y lo han integrado a un nave espacial que dirige a un asteroide ".

More information....

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2016/student-built-experiment-integrated-onto-nasa-s-osiris-rex-misión

A student-built experiment aboard NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has been integrated onto the spacecraft.

MIT graduate students Pronoy Biswas (left) and Mark Chodas prepare the Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) instrument for flight.

Credits: William Litant/MIT

The Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) will determine elemental abundances on the surface of asteroid Bennu, complementing the mineral and chemical mapping capabilities provided by two other instruments on the spacecraft.

"The students worked incredibly hard to get to this point,” said Mike Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It is quite an accomplishment to develop a flight instrument and have it integrated to a spacecraft that's headed to an asteroid."

REXIS will observe the solar X-rays and their interaction with the asteroid’s surface material, or regolith. The surface responds to this incoming energy by glowing faintly, or fluorescing, by emitting X-rays. These X-rays have an energy that is uniquely characteristic of the elements. REXIS is a telescope that images this X-ray fluorescence, allowing the production of maps of the different elements present on Bennu's surface.

REXIS brings together students and faculty from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, both in Cambridge. After a competitive process REXIS was selected as a student collaboration experiment as part of OSIRIS-REx.

The instrument will involve more than 100 students throughout the mission. Students at Harvard and MIT will perform data analysis as part of their coursework.

“The REXIS instrument has already achieved its primary objective – to train the next generation of scientists and engineers,” said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “This team should be proud of all they have accomplished. I look forward to seeing the REXIS data from Bennu and using it to learn more about the chemistry of the asteroid surface.”

OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid. After launch in September 2016, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and retrieve at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of surface material and return it to Earth for study. Scientists expect that Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of the water and organic molecules that may have made their way to Earth. OSIRIS-REx’s investigation will also inform future efforts to develop a mission to mitigate an asteroid impact on Earth, should one be required.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx.  Dante Lauretta is the mission's principal investigator at the University of Arizona. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information on OSIRIS-REx visit:

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

and

http://www.asteroidmission.org

Nancy Neal Jones
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
301-286-0039
Nancy.N.Jones@nasa.gov

Last Updated: Jan. 7, 2016

Editor: Karl Hille

Tags:  Asteroids, Bennu, Goddard Space Flight Center, OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer), Solar System,

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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NASA : NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Begins Environmental Testing.- NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Empieza Pruebas ambientales

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) misión está en fase de pruebas del medio ambiente en las instalaciones de Lockheed Martin Space Systems, cerca de Denver, Colorado. Osiris-Rex será la primera misión de Estados Unidos para volver muestras de un asteroide a la Tierra para su posterior estudio."Osiris-Rex está entrando en pruebas ambientales a tiempo, dentro del presupuesto y con las reservas de horario", dijo Mike Donnelly, director del proyecto OSIRIS-Rex en el Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la NASA en Greenbelt, Maryland. "Esto nos permite tener flexibilidad si surgen problemas durante los preparativos del lanzamiento final."Durante los próximos cinco meses, la nave será sometida a una serie de rigurosas pruebas que simulan el vacío, vibraciones y temperaturas extremas que experimentará durante toda la vida de su misión."Este es un momento emocionante para el programa ya que ahora tenemos una nave espacial completado y el equipo se pone de probar que, en cierto sentido, antes de que realmente volamos a asteroide Bennu", dijo Rich Kuhns, director del programa Osiris-Rex en Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "La fase de prueba del medio ambiente es un momento importante en la misión, ya que revelará cualquier problema con la nave y los instrumentos, mientras que aquí en la Tierra, antes de enviar al espacio profundo."En concreto, la nave Osiris-Rex se someterá a pruebas para simular el duro ambiente del espacio, incluyendo acústica, la separación y el choque de despliegue, la vibración y la interferencia electromagnética. La simulación concluye con una prueba en la que la nave y sus instrumentos se colocan en una cámara de vacío y pedalearon por las temperaturas frías y calientes extremas que se enfrentará durante su viaje a Bennu."Este hito marca el final de la etapa de diseño y montaje", dijo Dante Lauretta, investigador principal de Osiris-Rex de la Universidad de Arizona, Tucson. "Ahora pasamos a probar todo el sistema de vuelo sobre el rango de condiciones ambientales que será experimentado en el viaje a Bennu y la espalda. Esta fase es fundamental para el éxito de la misión, y estoy seguro de que hemos construido el sistema adecuado para el trabajo ".Osiris-Rex está programada para el envío desde las instalaciones de Lockheed Martin para el Centro Espacial Kennedy de la NASA en mayo próximo, donde se realizarán los preparativos finales para el lanzamiento.Después del lanzamiento en septiembre de 2016, la nave viajará al cercano a la Tierra de asteroides Bennu y llevar al menos un 60 gramos (2.1 onzas) de muestras a la Tierra para su estudio. Osiris-Rex volverá la muestra más grande desde el espacio ya Luna 24 misión de la Unión Soviética volvió 170 gramos (6 onzas) de suelo lunar en 1976.Los científicos esperan que el Bennu puede dar pistas sobre el origen del sistema solar y la fuente de agua y moléculas orgánicas que pueden haber hecho su camino a la Tierra. La investigación de Osiris-Rex informará a los futuros esfuerzos para desarrollar una misión de mitigar un impacto, debe se ser necesario.

 

More information...

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/nasa-s-osiris-rex-spacecraft-begins-environmental-testing

The high gain antenna and solar arrays were installed on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft prior to it moving to environmental testing.

Credits: Lockheed Martin Corporation

 

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is undergoing environmental testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems facilities, near Denver, Colorado. OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to return samples from an asteroid to Earth for further study.

"OSIRIS-REx is entering environmental testing on schedule, on budget and with schedule reserves," said Mike Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "This allows us to have flexibility if any concerns arise during final launch preparations."

Over the next five months, the spacecraft will be subjected to a range of rigorous tests that simulate the vacuum, vibration and extreme temperatures it will experience throughout the life of its mission.

“This is an exciting time for the program as we now have a completed spacecraft and the team gets to test drive it, in a sense, before we actually fly it to asteroid Bennu,” said Rich Kuhns, OSIRIS-REx program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. “The environmental test phase is an important time in the mission as it will reveal any issues with the spacecraft and instruments, while here on Earth, before we send it into deep space.” 

Specifically, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will undergo tests to simulate the harsh environment of space, including acoustical, separation and deployment shock, vibration, and electromagnetic interference. The simulation concludes with a test in which the spacecraft and its instruments are placed in a vacuum chamber and cycled through the extreme hot and cold temperatures it will face during its journey to Bennu.

"This milestone marks the end of the design and assembly stage,” said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “We now move on to test the entire flight system over the range of environmental conditions that will be experienced on the journey to Bennu and back. This phase is critical to mission success, and I am confident that we have built the right system for the job."

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to ship from Lockheed Martin’s facility to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center next May, where it will undergo final preparations for launch.

After launch in September 2016, the spacecraft will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and bring at least a 60-gram (2.1-ounce) sample back to Earth for study. OSIRIS-REx will return the largest sample from space since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission returned 170 grams (6 ounces) of lunar soil in 1976.

 

Scientists expect that the Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of water and organic molecules that may have made their way to Earth. OSIRIS-REx’s investigation will inform future efforts to develop a mission to mitigate an impact, should one be required.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta is the mission's principal investigator at the University of Arizona. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information on OSIRIS-REx visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
and
http://www.asteroidmission.org

 

Nancy Neal Jones
NASA'S Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
301-286-0039
Nancy.N.Jones@nasa.gov

Last Updated: Oct. 21, 2015

Editor: Karl Hille

Tags:  Asteroids, Bennu, Goddard Space Flight Center, OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer), Solar System,

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

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