OSIRIS-REx is headed to Bennu, a roughly spherical asteroid measuring about 1,614 feet (492 meters) in diameter. All asteroids represent remnants of the building blocks of our solar system, so why did scientists decide to send a mission to this one? Location, location, location. For a sample return mission, accessibility is key. Bennu travels in …
Overall mission management for OSIRIS-REx, including systems engineering as well as safety and mission assurance, is provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dante Lauretta is the mission’s principal investigator at the University of Arizona, and the spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver. Launch management is the responsibility …
In the image above from NASA TV, viewers can clearly see gaseous oxygen venting away from the Atlas V booster. This is normal and is caused when small amounts of cryogenic liquid oxygen boil off and are vented away. “All the fueling operations have gone perfectly fine today,” NASA Launch Commentator Mike Curie reported.
Tonight’s launch window opens at 7:05 p.m. EDT, one hour from now. All activities are on schedule for liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket carrying NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 41.
Built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado, the spacecraft measures 10.33 by 8 feet and will be powered in space by two solar panels generating 1,226 watts to 3,000 watts, depending on the distance from the sun. With both of its arrays deployed, the spacecraft extends to 20.25 feet long. Learn more about …
Countdown clocks just passed the T-1 hour mark and activities are proceeding smoothly. Tanking operations continue, and in case you missed it, Launch Weather Officer Clay Flinn has upgraded the forecast to reflect a 90 percent chance of “go” weather at the 7:05 p.m. liftoff time. Image from NASA TV
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket comprises a first-stage booster, a Centaur upper stage and a protective payload fairing that houses the spacecraft during the critical early minutes of flight. The Atlas V vehicle is available in several configurations, but the one poised to launch OSIRIS-REx is an Atlas V 411: it’s topped by …
Spelled out in full, the name of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft hints at the many goals scientists envision for this mission: to map asteroid Bennu using 3-D laser imaging, retrieve samples from its surface and return those samples to Earth. “The mission name is an awesome acronym that describes our primary science objectives,” said Dante Lauretta, …
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft — currently sealed inside the payload fairing of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket — is on track to leave Earth behind and kick off an ambitious voyage to asteroid Bennu. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. …
Propellants are being loaded into the Atlas V rocket, a process known as tanking. It begins with chilldown of the ground equipment and transfer lines prior to the flow of supercool, cryogenic propellants. The Atlas booster’s single RD-180 engine uses 48,860 gallons of liquid oxygen, or LOX, in combination with a refined kerosene fuel called RP-1. …
