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NASA's OSIRIS-REx

archenemy_6

By archenemy_6
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archenemy_6

archenemy_6

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Has anyone read anything on this satellite?

I actually just heard about it today and did a little reading. It will be going to an asteroid and scanning it's surface and taking a sample.

If anyone has Snapchat you add NASA and you can see them uncrateing the satellite.

I've never seen it before so I thought it was pretty interesting.

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archenemy_6

archenemy_6

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oh wow I didn't even know that. That's really cool.
All those CAD drawings are awesome. lots of detail.
Makes me want to try and build something like it in 1.1.2

I was thinking earlier how I wished I could come up with all these cool acronyms like NASA does. I really like the name OSIRIS-REx

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IonStorm

IonStorm

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On May 21, 2016 at 6:27 PM, archenemy_6 said:

I was thinking earlier how I wished I could come up with all these cool acronyms like NASA does. I really like the name OSIRIS-REx

I'm glad you like the name.  OSIRIS-REx was based on the mission objectives:

  • Origins:  Return and analyze a sample of pristine carbonaceous asteroid regolith
  • Spectral Interpretation:  Provide ground truth for telescopic data of the entire asteroid population
  • Resource Identification:  Map the chemistry and mineralogy of a primitive carbonaceous asteroid
  • Security:  Measure the Yarkovsky effect on a potentially hazardous asteroid

Plus Egyptology is cool.  We proposed OSIRIS twice in the NASA Discovery mission line, but the Agency selected nobody for our first cycle then Grail for our second.  The biggest problem was we couldn't fit in the cost box for Discovery.  We proposed for New Frontiers, with about double the budget and as a joke someone added REX to the end to signify it was bigger.  The joke stuck, so we decided that REx must mean:

  • Regolith Explorer:  Document the regolith at the sampling site at scales down to the sub-cm

NASA does love their acronyms.  I'm fond of this passage

Quote

 

The first thing we had to learn was the crazy acronyms that NASA uses all over the place: “SRMs” are the solid rocket motors, which make up most of the “SRBs,” the solid rocket boosters. The “SSMEs” are the space shuttle main engines; they burn “LH” (liquid hydrogen) and “LOX” (liquid oxygen), which are stored in the “ET,” the external tank.

Everything's got letters. And not just the big things: practically every valve has an acronym, so they said, “We'll give you a dictionary for the acronyms—it's really very simple.” Simple, sure, but the dictionary is a great, big, fat book that you've gotta keep looking through for things like “HPFTP” (high-pressure fuel turbopump) and “HPOTP” (high-pressure oxygen turbopump).

“What Do You Care What Other People Think?” Further Adventures of a Curious Character  Richard P. Feynman 1989

 

Anyway, the spacecraft (or s/c) shipped to NASA KSC Friday and final preparations for launch September 8, 2016 at 7:05 EDT are underway.  

I am very much looking forward to your OSIRIS-REx model in KSP.

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IonStorm

IonStorm

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1 minute ago, insert_name said:

so @IonStorm how is it going to collect the samples, is it going to land or just brush against it?

The spacecraft touches the surface of Bennu with what looks like an old car air filter on the end of a 3-m long pogo stick.  This is called the Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM).  The spacecraft slowly falls under Bennu's tiny gravity and touches the surface with the TAGSAM head.  Upon contact a jet of nitrogen gas is released to rocks and dust from the top couple centimeters into the TAGSAM head and trapped between a filter and mylar check valve.  At the same time steel Velcro pads will collect surface dust.  The pogo springs back and the thrusters fire the spacecraft a safe distance from Bennu.  The contact takes less than 5 seconds.

After sampling the spacecraft measures the mass of the sample by spinning with the arm extended to determine the change in inertia since before sapling.  If there was a problem with collection, there are an additional two bottles of nitrogen for two more sampling attempts.  If everything checks out the head is stowed in the sample return canister (SRC) and then severed from the arm.

More at https://dslauretta.com/2015/04/20/development-of-the-osiris-rex-sampling-system-tagsam-and-the-src/

and

 

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IonStorm

IonStorm

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5 minutes ago, insert_name said:

is the spacecraft going to reenter as well or will it be able to continue exploring 

Like on Stardust, the SRC is spin-stabalized and ejected from the spacecraft.  The SRC lands at the Utah Test and Training Range (Utah, USA) 8:53 am MDT September 24, 2023, while the spacecraft is diverted into heliocentric orbit.  After that the spacecraft is available to be used as NASA sees fit--though at that point the warranty would have expired :).

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  • 3 months later...
IonStorm

IonStorm

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I added more images to the same album.

http://imgur.com/a/0RbED

(I guess these albums don't display anymore, I've been busy and hadn't noticed)

 

On May 26, 2016 at 4:38 PM, insert_name said:

Wow that cool, is the spacecraft going to reenter as well or will it be able to continue exploring 

The spacecraft will jettison the sample return capsule to land on Earth.  At the same time the spacecraft will divert away from Earth and enter into heliocentric orbit.   We expect it to have plenty of fuel and the full instrument suite.  There it is an asset be used, should NASA choose to.

On May 26, 2016 at 3:01 PM, insert_name said:

so @IonStorm how is it going to collect the samples, is it going to land or just brush against it?

OSIRIS-REx extends the 3m TAGSAM arm and autonomously descends to the surface of Bennu.  It touches for about 5 seconds before the spring in the arm and pushes it away from the surface. During that 5s, high pressure N2 gas fires and stirs up the regolith (stones and dust) and blows it into the TAGSAM head, which is essentially an air filter.  TAGSAM stands for Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism.  We have been describing this TAG as a gentle kiss or a high-five.

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njmksr

njmksr

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While it is highly unlikely now possible (thanks to @Dman979) that a member of the OSIRIS-REx mission team will read this, I would like to wish @IonStorm and all of the people on the team good luck and a safe flight to Bennu.

We're rooting for you guys!

UPDATE: CONGRATS @IonStorm, now, onto Bennu! 

Edited by njmksr
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Dman979

Dman979

Posted
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20 minutes ago, njmksr said:

While it is highly unlikely that a member of the OSIRIS-REx mission team will ever read this, I would like to wish all of the people on the team good luck and a safe flight to Bennu.

We're rooting for you guys!

I'll bet you $50 USD that someone from the team will read this.

@IonStorm? You there, or at your console?

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njmksr

njmksr

Posted
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29 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

I'll bet you $50 USD that someone from the team will read this.

@IonStorm? You there, or at your console?

Whoops! Forgot we had a member of the OSIRIS-REx team on the forums!

I doubt that he'll be paying attention to this. He's either got pre-launch coverage to watch, or, ya know, he's actually there :P << (More likely)

 

Edited by njmksr
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Ultimate Steve

Ultimate Steve

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Posted
4 hours ago, insert_name said:

What time is the launch going to be, I plan on watching if I can finish my homework

In 7 minutes for me. I'm not studying for Spanish tonight!

And English. And Biology. And everything else I have quizzes on tomorrow.

One minute until launch!

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cubinator

cubinator

Posted
Posted
On 5/26/2016 at 2:18 PM, IonStorm said:

The spacecraft touches the surface of Bennu with what looks like an old car air filter on the end of a 3-m long pogo stick.

"Raw" engineer-speak

On 5/26/2016 at 2:18 PM, IonStorm said:

 This is called the Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM).

"Crap we really should come up with a cool acronym for this thing we invented" engineer-speak

 :D 

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Flayer

Flayer

Posted
Posted

So, how much closer is this going to bring us to start mining these things? ^_^

I can already imagine that 20-30 years from now we'll send up some basic mining equipment along with a couple of the latest 2040-style 3d printers and get building on that first (robotic?) asteroid colony in the first capitalist venture outside of the Earth SOI

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todofwar

todofwar

Posted
Posted
On 5/23/2016 at 1:32 PM, IonStorm said:

I'm glad you like the name.  OSIRIS-REx was based on the mission objectives:

 

  • Origins:  Return and analyze a sample of pristine carbonaceous asteroid regolith
  • Spectral Interpretation:  Provide ground truth for telescopic data of the entire asteroid population
  • Resource Identification:  Map the chemistry and mineralogy of a primitive carbonaceous asteroid
  • Security:  Measure the Yarkovsky effect on a potentially hazardous asteroid

Plus Egyptology is cool.  We proposed OSIRIS twice in the NASA Discovery mission line, but the Agency selected nobody for our first cycle then Grail for our second.  The biggest problem was we couldn't fit in the cost box for Discovery.  We proposed for New Frontiers, with about double the budget and as a joke someone added REX to the end to signify it was bigger.  The joke stuck, so we decided that REx must mean:

  • Regolith Explorer:  Document the regolith at the sampling site at scales down to the sub-cm

NASA does love their acronyms.  I'm fond of this passage

Anyway, the spacecraft (or s/c) shipped to NASA KSC Friday and final preparations for launch September 8, 2016 at 7:05 EDT are underway.  

I am very much looking forward to your OSIRIS-REx model in KSP.

 

Not just a NASA thing, and at least they make some kind of sense. Unlike the National Biomedical Research Center for AdvanCed ESR Technology (ACERT).

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