What to learn about OSIRIS-REx, together with its Canadian connection

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On Sunday, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will zoom by Earth, dropping a particular package deal that can land – if all goes nicely – on the US authorities’s Check and Coaching Space in Utah, about 130 kilometers west of Salt Lake Metropolis. Contained in the small capsule is the biggest pattern ever taken from an asteroid. Here is what to learn about OSIRIS-REx and its valuable payload.

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When did he go away Earth?

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OSIRIS-REx — which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Useful resource Identification, Safety, Regolith Explorer — left Earth greater than seven years in the past, on September 8, 2016, aboard an Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Since then, it has traveled greater than 6.2 billion kilometers, together with a slingshot maneuver close to Earth in 2017 to achieve further velocity.

The place did you go?

OSIRIS-REx visited 101955 Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid first found in 1999. It’s roughly spherical and about 500 meters in diameter. In October of 2020, the probe carried out a touch-and-go maneuver, basically bouncing off the asteroid’s floor and dislodging materials, which it then collected for return to Earth. Scientists estimate that the spacecraft was capable of seize about 250 grams of objects, which is far more than different deep area pattern return missions.

What did these missions deliver again?

That is NASA’s third pattern returned from deep area, not counting the tons of of kilograms of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts. In 2004, the Genesis spacecraft crashed in Utah, destroying or contaminating most of its payload of photo voltaic wind particles. Two years later, the Stardust probe efficiently returned with mud collected from the tail of comet Wild 2. Two Japanese probes additionally returned small samples (lower than 5 grams every) from two comets.

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What was Canada’s position?

The Canadian House Company, which has lengthy had an in depth partnership with NASA, offered the OSIRIS-REx laser altimeter, or OLA. This instrument was used to scan and measure Bennu’s floor and create a 3D mannequin that helps mission planners decide the place to land on the asteroid.

Did Canada get cash for this contribution?

He is about to do exactly that, in the easiest way doable. In alternate for the OLA, the CSA will obtain 4% of the returned pattern (maybe round 10 grams of fabric), which can give Canadian scientists the first-ever direct entry to a returned asteroid pattern.

4 p.c could not seem to be loads, however it’s a a lot bigger slice than going to Japan, which can get half of 1 p.c. One other 25 p.c will likely be divided amongst NASA scientists. The remaining, about 70 p.c, will likely be saved “for research by scientists but to be born, utilizing methods not but invented, to reply elementary questions in regards to the photo voltaic system,” the company says. NASA likes to take the lengthy view.

How will touchdown work?

OSIRIS-REx will launch the pattern capsule from a distance of 100,000 km, 4 hours earlier than it’s scheduled to land. The capsule, which is about 80 centimeters broad and 50 centimeters excessive, will enter the ambiance at a velocity of 44,500 kilometers per hour, decelerate as a result of friction with the ambiance, after which use parachutes to land at a velocity of about 18 kilometers per hour. NASA is reside streaming the touchdown, deliberate for 10:55 a.m. ET Sunday, on NASA TV and at youtube.com/nasa.

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What’s subsequent for OSIRIS-REx?

As soon as the pattern return capsule is dropped, the mothership will likely be renamed OSIRIS-APEX (Apophis Explorer) and can return to deep area to rendezvous with asteroid 99942 Apophis in 2029, which it should research. Nevertheless, no additional returns of samples will likely be made.

What’s subsequent for asteroid exploration?

NASA calls this asteroid Autumn, due to the main milestones achieved by three missions. On October 5, the asteroid Psyche orbiter is scheduled to launch, on monitor for a 2029 rendezvous with an iron asteroid of the identical identify. Then on November 1, the Lucy area probe, launched final October, will make the primary of eight deliberate flybys of asteroids within the asteroid belt and close to Jupiter.

What’s subsequent for Benno?

Explosive objects. Bennu is assessed as a near-Earth asteroid, and on September 23, 2060, it should cross Earth at about twice the gap from the Moon. Seventy-five years after that, it should cross by Earth, and on September 24, 2182 – 159 years to the day of the pattern return – it has a one in 2,700 likelihood of colliding with our planet.

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After that, the numbers get tougher to crunch, however scientists consider Bennu’s destiny will seemingly at some point fall on the Solar (48% likelihood) or Venus (26%). Any hazard to Earth is unlikely and centuries away. However it doesn’t matter what, we’ll at all times have just a few grams of Pinot to recollect it by.

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