The van-sized spacecraft will soon have to touch his hand down at a landing site called Nightingale. The site is a bit wide of parking spaces. The arm will collect a sample between 2 ounces and 2 kilograms before paying attention to safety.
The site itself is located inside a terrace court-sized pit and is riddled with building-sized stones.
Located more than 200 million miles from Earth, Bennu is a boulder-studded asteroid shaped like a spinning top and as tall as the Empire State Building. It is a “pile of rubble” asteroids, a group of rocks caught by gravity rather than a single object.
The mission – meaning Regin, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security – Regolith Explorer – was launched in September 2016.
Since arriving in Bennu, the spacecraft and its cameras have been collecting and sending back data and images to help map out the best possible landing sites to learn more about the planet’s composition and collect samples.
The main event of the mission, called the Touch-and-Go Sample Collection or TAG, is scheduled for October 20 at 5 p.m. ET.
Bennu has an orbit that brings it closer to Earth, which is why it is considered the closest planet to Earth. One of his future approaches could bring him closer to a dangerous earth at some point in the next century; It has 2,700 chances to affect our planet.
Bennu’s samples could help scientists understand not only about the asteroids that could affect the Earth, but also how the planets formed and how life began.
“It’s a historic first mission for NASA to return to the planet, and it’s difficult,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, during a news conference Monday.
“Bennu is almost the Rosetta Stone there, and it tells the history of our earth and solar system over the last billions of years. Bennu has presented many challenges, but the team’s ingenuity has enabled us to get to where we are.”
What to expect
During this time, the spacecraft will descend from its orbit around the asteroid and eventually come close enough to touch it.
Asteroids and spacecraft are currently about 207 million miles from Earth, which would cause a delay of about 18.5 minutes of communication.
The NASA team will bring the animation to a live stream showing what is happening based on the commands that were sent OSISIS-REx hours ago for the sample collection sequence.
Since live commands from Earth would not be possible the spacecraft would make a complete sequence of reaching the asteroid and collecting the sample autonomously.
Touch down on a planet
The event will take about 4.5 hours to occur and the spacecraft will run three maneuvers to collect the sample.
The spacecraft will first drop the thrusters around its safe orbit around Aster to Ed, which is about 2,500 feet away from the surface, and will travel four hours before reaching just 410 feet away. Then, the spacecraft will adjust to position and speed to continue descending.
Next, the OSIRI will slow down its descent to target the IRS-Rex path so that it coincides with the rotation of the asteroid during contact. Its solar panels will be folded into the upper Y-wing alignment of the spacecraft for their protection.
Finally, the OSIRIS-REx will come down for less than 16 seconds. The spacecraft will drop a pressurized nitrogen bottle into the asteroid using gas to lift the material from the surface of the bean.
The collector head of the spacecraft will capture the shaken material. Located on the arm of an 11-foot-long robotic specimen, the head is the only part of the spacecraft that touches Bennu. The team compares it to an older model car’s air filter, perfect for collecting nice stuff.
Small discs, which can collect dust like sticky pads, are also located on the head if part of the sample maneuver on the sample does not go as planned.
After the incident
The camera on the spacecraft will take footage of my collection event.
The OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft will have to detect hazards and delay its own mission if there are any obstacles in the way of collecting samples. On the basis of Its Simultaneously, the team estimates that the spacecraft is 6% less likely to leave the mission.
By Tuesday night, the team should be able to confirm whether the touchdown was successful. The image will be returned by the spacecraft on Wednesday, providing more details on how the spacecraft departs for sample collection and more.
The team estimates they will measure a large amount of the sample on Saturday. By October 30, NASA will confirm that the spacecraft is collecting enough samples or if it needs to try to collect samples in January at another landing site called January Spray.
But if everything goes smoothly, the spacecraft and its precious specimens will embark on a long journey to Earth next year and take a sample to Earth in 2023.
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