NASA's team that will conduct the first
U.S. mission to collect samples from an asteroid has been given the
go-ahead to begin building the spacecraft, flight instruments and
ground system, and launch support facilities.
This determination was made Wednesday
after a successful Mission Critical Design Review (CDR) for NASA’s
Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security
Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx). The CDR was held at Lockheed Martin
Space Systems Company in Littleton, Colo. An independent review
board, comprised of experts from NASA and several external
organizations, met to review the system design.
OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in
the fall of 2016, rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2018 and
return a sample of it to Earth in 2023. The spacecraft carries five
instruments that will remotely evaluate the surface of Bennu. After
more than a year of asteroid reconnaissance, the spacecraft will
collect samples of at least two ounces (60 grams) and return them to
Earth for scientists to study.
“The hard part is still in front of
us -- building, integrating and testing the flight system in support
of a tight planetary launch window," said Mike Donnelly,
OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md.
Key mission objectives focus on finding
answers to basic questions about the composition of the very early
solar system and the source of organic materials and water that made
life possible on Earth. The mission will also aid NASA’s asteroid
initiative and support the agency's efforts to understand the
population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects and
characterize those suitable for future asteroid exploration missions.
The initiative brings together the best of NASA's science, technology
and human exploration efforts to achieve President Obama's goal of
sending humans to an asteroid by 2025.
In January, NASA invited people around
the world to submit their names to be etched on a microchip aboard
the spacecraft. After submitting their name, participants are able to
download and print a certificate documenting their participation in
the OSIRIS-REx mission. The campaign is open until Sept. 30.
Goddard Space Flight Center will
provide overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety
and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Lockheed Martin Space Systems
in Denver will build the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission
in the agency's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages New Frontiers for the agency's
Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The University of Arizona
leads OSIRIS-REx and provides the camera system and science
processing and operations center.
