James Kerman Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 1 hour ago, IonStorm said: you folks are getting tired of the updates, I can stop. Please don't, Mate. I love getting increasingly stronger doses of Bennu on a daily basis. I would also like to know a little about what inspired you to become involved in space exploration and what it feels like to see OSIRIS REx really starting to perform it's mission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 That’s quite the boulder sitting on the bottom (southern?) hemi-roid. Any estimate on its size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaverickSawyer Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 13 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said: That’s quite the boulder sitting on the bottom (southern?) hemi-roid. Any estimate on its size? Whoa. Didn't spot that before. That's... wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share Posted November 7, 2018 26 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said: That’s quite the boulder sitting on the bottom (southern?) hemi-roid. Any estimate on its size? Amazingly, that is the same boulder predicted by the 2011 radar study. The asteroid is about 500m across, so maybe 20-50m. There will be a detailed lidar model (courtesy of the Canadian lidar, OLA), which can be imported into real solar system at some point . The image is shown with the Bennu's north pole up, which is in the same direction as the solar system south. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share Posted November 7, 2018 3 hours ago, James Kerman said: I would also like to know a little about what inspired you to become involved in space exploration and what it feels like to see OSIRIS-REx really starting to perform its mission. I'm interested in the origin of life and going to an asteroid is a good way to study prebiotic chemistry without the contamination of the biosphere and look at the processes active in the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. I also had formative years exposed to the later Apollo missions. I've been working on OSIRIS-REx (and its precursor concepts) since 2004, this is a huge milestone to getting the sample in 2023. It is a relief to see Bennu consistent with our predictions and crossing off risks as everything continues to go flawlessly (fingers crossed). I find it to be thrilling and nostalgic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Peabody Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 @IonStorm, What it the worst case scenario that could happen at this point in time? I'm sure most of us remember the fate of the Rosetta Lander. Are there any redundancies in case the sample acquisition does not go as planned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share Posted November 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, The Dunatian said: @IonStorm, What it the worst case scenario that could happen at this point in time? I'm sure most of us remember the fate of the Rosetta Lander. Are there any redundancies in case the sample acquisition does not go as planned? There are so many checks to rehearsals. Everything is slow, deliberate, and careful. One redundancy is that there are 3 gas bottles. If the sample collection does not meet requirements, we can try two more times. Also, we will have enough time to reconstruct what went wrong if we need to do it again. Think of it in KSP terms: Mission Control puts out a contract to do one of a list of missions Players write a proposal to compete to win the contract The next year, mission control selects three who compete again with a more detailed proposal Mission control selects one and hires a panel of experts to pick at the details of the design and budget for three years with the objective of reducing risk. They also pick a rocket for you based on your requirements. Then you start building and testing the spacecraft for two more years. Launch Do science From steps 4-7 there are weekly reports, monthly reviews, and annual decision points (with the option to cancel or pause the mission). This is designed to look at every worst case scenario and design mitigations. Not that nothing bad can happen, like Philae, which suffered multiple overlapping problems (thruster, harpoon, unlucky rock) but still did some great science. See http://caesar.cornell.edu/ for the next mission (currently at step 3, above). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 9, 2018 Author Share Posted November 9, 2018 We are go for rendezvous. No hazards have been detected, so the nominal burn sequence will be deployed to begin encounter on December 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 OSIRIS-REx has completed its final asteroid approach maneuver (AAM-4). The four burns (two with the main engines, one with the trajectory correction thrusters, and the last with the attitude control system thrusters) slowed the spacecraft from 491 m/s to 4 cm/s relative to Bennu. Preliminary survey maneuver 0 is scheduled for November 30, to position the spacecraft for the start of the preliminary survey phase of the in situ science campaign on December 3. https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=nasas-osiris-rex-executes-first-asteroid-approach-maneuver https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=nasas-osiris-rex-executes-second-asteroid-approach-maneuver https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=nasas-osiris-rex-executes-third-asteroid-approach-maneuver https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=nasas-osiris-rex-executes-fourth-asteroid-approach-maneuver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 16, 2018 Author Share Posted November 16, 2018 Here is some hardware. The sampling device (TAGSAM) arm was tested in space and the OSIRIS-REx SamCam imaged it. The contamination witness plate doors (one is top center) closed as designed and the camera exposures are set to view it before, during, and after sample collection in 2020. https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=tagsam-testing-complete-osiris-rex-prepared-tag-asteroid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoeZ Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Getting close to target and flexing it's muscles Closing in on Bennu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 3 minutes ago, MarkoeZ said: Getting close to target and flexing it's muscles Closing in on Bennu I've been posting updates on this forum as they come in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoeZ Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 2 minutes ago, IonStorm said: I've been posting updates on this forum as they come in. Thanks! Completely missed that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 22, 2018 Author Share Posted November 22, 2018 On 11/16/2018 at 3:23 PM, IonStorm said: Here is some hardware. The sampling device (TAGSAM) arm was tested in space and the OSIRIS-REx SamCam imaged it. The images on the other side of the head have been released https://www.asteroidmission.org/tagsam-samcam-side-by-side/ As well as a story that includes yours truly. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/762/people-of-osiris-rex/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle92lightning Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 (edited) I might do this just for the fun of it using SSTU, build an actually Atlas V 411, and execute the mission! Edited November 24, 2018 by eagle92lightning Just realized this is over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 24, 2018 Author Share Posted November 24, 2018 4 minutes ago, eagle92lightning said: I might do this just for the fun of it using SSTU, build an actually Atlas V 411, and execute the mission! Cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle92lightning Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Just now, IonStorm said: Cool! My one problem will be inexperience. I have only landed on the Mun once, and I used MechJeb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 24, 2018 Author Share Posted November 24, 2018 Just now, eagle92lightning said: My one problem will be inexperience. I have only landed on the Mun once, and I used MechJeb. So the thing about Bennu, is it is much smaller than the smallest moon in KSP and much bigger than the biggest asteroid. Bennu has a diameter of 0.5 km while Gilly is 26 km and a Class E asteroid is about 0.03 km, either way the sampling is more like docking than landing on Mun. Unlike the Mun, actually intercepting it is more difficult, since you cannot rely on just getting captured. Have fun. BTW, in the next few months we should have an accurate shape and image model for the real Bennu, which I hope will be imported into RSS. https://www.asteroidmission.org/bennu-at-300-px/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle92lightning Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Something interesting, my real name in actually on the real spacecraft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 24, 2018 Author Share Posted November 24, 2018 Just now, eagle92lightning said: Something interesting, my real name in actually on the real spacecraft. There are two copies, one in the Sample Return Capsule, which will return to Earth and eventually reside in the Smithsonian Museum and the other will stay in space on the spacecraft bus. Below are some images of the chip with engraved names being installed on the spacecraft bus. Amusingly, OSIRIS-REx shared a cleanroom with InSight, which lands on Mars on Monday (you can see part of the logo in the second image). You can watch the controllers live here https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/ during the landing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle92lightning Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 On 11/24/2018 at 2:23 PM, IonStorm said: which lands on Mars on Monday As I am sure you already know... WE HAVE TOUCHDOWN! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insert_name Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 why does bennu look so sparkly? It doesnt seem like its albedo should be that high as its a C type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IonStorm Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 7 minutes ago, insert_name said: why does bennu look so sparkly? It doesnt seem like its albedo should be that high as its a C type. It is an average of 3% albedo. Though the image is stretched, there is a lot of variation in darkness. It will be interesting to figure out why the bright spots are bright and the dark spots are dark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAL59 Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Clarification: Is it actually landing and sampling today, or just entering orbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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