![]() ![]() It became obvious they were not going to get a clear 50-meter diameter region to collect the sample. Campins and others on the imaging team spent months analyzing the photos to determine the best spots for collection. The team had to make several major adjustments from its approach to the asteroid to how it mapped the surface. Particles were being ejected from its surface and it was covered in boulders of varying sizes. But when the spacecraft arrived in December 2018 it encountered several surprises. Lauretta, expected a somewhat smooth asteroid surface based on data collected about Bennu. When the spacecraft launched in September 2016 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the team, led by University of Arizona Professor Dante S. The spacecraft successfully demonstrated its ability to fine tune its approach to Bennu.” The dress rehearsal went better than expected. “This is a very significant step that brings OSIRIS-REx closer to our sampling maneuver in August. “The photos are just amazing,” Campins says. ![]() The test-run also produced stunning photos taken by the camera mounted on the vehicle’s arm. The spacecraft is scheduled to perform a touch-and-go operation, extending the spacecraft’s arm to collect a small sample of asteroid Bennu in August and then return it to Earth in 2023.ĭuring the dress rehearsal completed earlier this month, the team tested those maneuvers necessary to collect the sample. UCF Professor Humberto Campins and Assistant Professor Kerri Donaldson Hanna are part of the science team on the mission, which is a first-of-its-kind mission for the United States. NASA’s OSIRIS REx team, which includes two professors from the University of Central Florida, completed a dress rehearsal of maneuvers it expects to make when its mission to collect a sample from an ancient asteroid comes to its climax. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |