NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return spacecraft program has successfully completed a comprehensive technical review of the mission an...
This major milestone was achieved after a successful mission critical design review (CDR) for the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer ( OSIRIS-REx) mission.
The review was performed by an independent review board, comprised of experts from NASA and several external organizations, that validated the detailed design of the spacecraft, instruments and ground system.
The spacecraft, which will be the first U.S. mission to a near-Earth asteroid to collect and return samples. Lockheed Martin will design and build the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, asteroid sampling system and the sample return capsule.
OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2016, rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2018 and spend a year of reconnaissance at the asteroid, before collecting a sample and returning it to Earth for scientists to study in 2023.
The spacecraft will study Bennu for up to 505 days, globally mapping the surface from a distance of 5 km to a distance of 0.7 km. It will then obtain at least 60 g of pristine regolith and a surface material sample and return it to earth.
Bennu (the asteroid formerly known as “1999 RQ36”) is a time capsule from 4.5 billion years ago. A pristine, carbonaceous asteroid containing the original material from the solar nebula, from which our Solar System formed.
The University of Arizona leads the effort and provides the camera system and science processing and operations center.
OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed by the Marshall Spaceflight Center.
