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THOUSAND OAKS, California – (BUSINESS WIRE) – Tomorrow, October 20, is an exciting day for planetary science. NASA’s ambitious OSIRIS-REx asteroid encounter mission will attempt to sample the surface of the asteroid Bennu to retrieve material that will be returned to Earth in September 2023. A decade of preparation on the ground led to a launch in September of 2016 and an arrival in December 2018 to nearby Earth. -Terrestrial asteroid Bennu. For the past 20 months, the spacecraft has studied Bennu to determine where to take the sample and how to do it safely. Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: TDY) provided the digital “eyes” that are critical to the mission. These imaging technologies have worked flawlessly throughout the mission, taking visible images, measuring surface topology, and using visible infrared spectroscopy to assess the composition of surface material.
OSIRIS-REx is an acronym that incorporates the main concepts and objectives of the mission: Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security and Regolith Explorer. The mission is helping scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improving our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.
Visible images of the asteroid are taken with CCD Teledyne image sensors.
Bennu has a much more dangerous landscape than anyone imagined. The 500-meter-wide asteroid (slightly larger than the 433-meter-high Empire State Building in New York City) has very large rocks on its surface; The largest is 58 meters wide and 22 meters high! Any sizable rock could damage the spacecraft as it approaches the surface. A vital instrument on the spacecraft is the lidar system that Bennu measured in three dimensions (3-D) with a precision of 10 cm and the landing site with a precision of 1 cm. Teledyne provided the two lidars found on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
But where to test? Site selection depends on the composition of the surface material. The chemical composition is determined by spectroscopy that diffuses visible and infrared light in hundreds of colors. Since each element, molecule and mineral has a unique spectral “fingerprint”, the spectrometer evaluated the composition of the surface so that the most scientifically valuable site will be sampled. Teledyne’s visible infrared imaging sensor detected the light in the spectrograph.
“Teledyne is proud to be an OSIRIS-REx mission partner with various imaging and spectroscopy technologies provided by our digital imaging segment,” said Robert Mehrabian, Teledyne CEO. “Our contribution to this mission exemplifies Teledyne’s broad commitment to exploration and discovery, from the ocean floor to deep space.”
The following paragraphs provide more information about the Teledyne image sensor technology and instruments.
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OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) consists of three cameras that imaged Bennu in visible light, mapping the entire asteroid to help determine where to take the sample. These imagers will record the sampling event during the critical touch and go maneuver. OCAMS use Teledyne DALSA CCD image sensors (Waterloo, Ontario and Bromont, Quebec, Canada) designed to be sensitive to low light levels at Bennu and impervious to space radiation. OCAMS have provided context for the other instruments as well as the characterization of the surface.
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The entire asteroid was mapped in 3-D with the OSIRIS-REx (OLA) laser altimeter, which is a LIDAR (light and range detection) scanning instrument to measure the topography of the asteroid with a precision of one centimeter at the site of the sample, an accuracy that is vital to a successful sampling maneuver. The two LIDAR sensors in the OLA, which were developed by Teledyne Optech (Toronto, Canada), have been optimized for different aspects of the mission: a high-power LIDAR for mapping at a distance of 0.6 to 4.7 miles and a low Turn on. LIDAR for distances less than 0.6 miles. LIDAR is also used to support navigation and gravity analysis.
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The OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) measures Bennu’s visible and infrared light and is sensitive to wavelengths from blue (0.4 micron wavelength) to mid-infrared (4.3 microns) . OVIRS measures the spectrum of the asteroid’s surface by dividing the light into its component wavelengths. Bennu’s spectral maps allowed scientists to determine the content of mineral and organic material on the surface, data that was key in determining where to collect the sample that is brought back to Earth. The visible infrared detector at OVIRS was provided by Teledyne Imaging Sensors (Camarillo, California) and is similar to detectors used at NASA’s Orbital Carbon Observatories that accurately monitor carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere.
About Teledyne Technologies
Teledyne Technologies is a leading provider of sophisticated instrumentation, digital imaging products and software, aerospace and defense electronics, and engineering systems. Teledyne Technologies’ operations are primarily located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Western and Northern Europe. For more information, visit the Teledyne Technologies website at www.teledyne.com.
