![]() The alteration might be rather minute and therefore extremely precise measurements of the initial configuration are required. After the impact, astronomers all over the world will measure the asteroids' orbits again, to see how the orbit of Dimorphos sped up following the collision. NASA expects to select a mission in May 2019 for launch in 2024 or 2025.Scientists need the detailed orbital parameters of the two space rocks not just to reliably guide DART to its target. NASA issued a draft announcement of opportunity for the competition in August for comment, and plans to issue the final announcement in January 2017. NASA is also preparing for the competition for the fourth New Frontiers mission. The mission extension will allow New Horizons to fly past a small body in the distant Kuiper Belt in January 2019. 27 and will enter its primary science orbit in October.Ī few days before Juno’s arrival, NASA formally extended the mission for New Horizons, the first New Frontiers mission, which flew past the dwarf planet Pluto in July 2015. Juno completed its first orbit around Jupiter Aug. On July 4, the second New Frontiers mission, Juno, entered orbit around Jupiter nearly five years after launch. The launch is a highlight in a busy year for NASA’s New Frontiers program. “We really kicked that field goal right down the center.” “We hit all of our milestones within seconds,” he said at a post-launch press conference. “I am anxious, because I’ve been working on this program for 12 years now and I really want to fly this spacecraft,” he said.Īfter the launch, he felt relieved. 6 that he was eager to get the mission started, having worked on the concept for more than a decade. 24, 2023.ĭante Lauretta, the University of Arizona planetary scientist who is the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx, said at a pre-launch press conference Sept. The sample return canister will parachute to a landing in the Utah Test and Training Range on Sept. OSIRIS-REx will depart from Bennu in March 2021 and return to Earth two and ahalf years later. “It’s all about keeping that precious sample safe, doing nothing that can possibly jeopardize it,” said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, at a Sept. Collection of the sample will mark the end of the science phase of the mission as the spacecraft moves to a safe distance from the asteroid. The spacecraft will deposit the samples collected by TAGSAM into a sample return canister based on the same design used for the Stardust comet dust sample return mission. TAGSAM is designed to collect at least 60 grams of material, but project officials are confident it can collect much more, perhaps up to 2 kilograms. The spacecraft will study the asteroid for nearly two years before making brief contact with the asteroid’s surface to collect samples of dust and rock.Ī collection device, known as the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), will use puffs of nitrogen gas to agitate the surface, collecting material in filters. ![]() The spacecraft will travel to Bennu, a near Earth asteroid about 500 meters in diameter, arriving there in in August 2018. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft using hardware designs derived from a number of previous planetary missions. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program of medium-sized planetary missions, with an estimated cost of $800 million plus launch and operations. “It is working absolutely as we designed it.” “The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is happy and healthy,” said Rich Kuhns, OSIRIS-REx program manager for Lockheed Martin, at a post-launch press conference. Initial operations of the spacecraft, including deployment of its solar arrays and initial communications with NASA’s Deep Space Network, also went as planned. “Not a single anomaly was worked during the countdown. “This was an excellent launch,” said Tim Dunn, NASA launch manager, after spacecraft separation. The spacecraft separated from the Atlas nearly one hour after liftoff. The Atlas 5 launched NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, spacecraft. ![]() No significant problems were reported during the countdown, and weather remained favorable throughout the day leading up to launch. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 411 lifted off at 7:05 p.m. An Atlas 5 successfully launched a NASA mission to visit a near Earth asteroid and return samples of it to Earth Sept.
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