OSIRIS-Rex – Atlas V 411 (AV-067) – Canaveral SLC-41 – 08.09.2016 23:05 UTC

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx‏Подлинная учетная запись @OSIRISREx 8 ч. назад

Now that I've arrived, it's time to get this asteroid mapped.

For the first time today I'm using OLA, my laser altimeter from @CSA. OLA's laser ranging data will be used to make 3D maps of Bennu ... giving us an understanding of the asteroid's shape:

https://bit.ly/2KU2MnB 

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx‏Подлинная учетная запись @OSIRISREx 11:59 - 4 дек. 2018 г.

Current status: pinging an asteroid with a laser.

CanadianSpaceAgency‏Подлинная учетная запись @csa_asc 11:24 - 4 дек. 2018 г.

Fire the laser! Today, Canada's @OSIRISREx laser instrument OLA (built by @MDA_maxar) begins its year-long quest to map asteroid Bennu. To find out more about Canada's role: http://ow.ly/zkww30mRBUW .

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https://www.asteroidmission.org/20181203_mapcam/

MapCam Images Bennu on Arrival Day

On Dec. 3, OSIRIS-REx's MapCam imager acquired this set of optical navigation images seven hours before the spacecraft's arrival maneuver. These eight images were taken over the span of one minute and are the first Bennu images obtained at a high phase angle – in this case 80° between the spacecraft, the asteroid and the Sun. The spacecraft's range to Bennu was 12 miles (19 km), and the asteroid spanned about 380 pixels in the camera's field of view.

Date Taken: Dec. 3, 2018

Instrument Used: OCAMS (MapCam)

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

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https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=nasas-osiris-rex-spacecraft-arrives-asteroid-bennu

NASA'S OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu

December 3, 2018 - NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft completed its 1.2 billion-mile (2 billion-kilometer) journey to arrive at the asteroid Bennu Monday. The spacecraft executed a maneuver that transitioned it from flying toward Bennu to operating around the asteroid.


This series of images taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft shows Bennu in one full rotation from a distance of around 50 miles (80 km). The spacecraft's PolyCam camera obtained the 36 2.2-millisecond frames over a period of four hours and 18 minutes. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Now, at about 11.8 miles (19 kilometers) from Bennu's Sun-facing surface, OSIRIS-REx will begin a preliminary survey of the asteroid. The spacecraft will commence flyovers of Bennu's north pole, equatorial region, and south pole, getting as close as nearly 4 miles (7 kilometers) above Bennu during each flyover.

The primary science goals of this survey are to refine estimates of Bennu's mass and spin rate, and to generate a more precise model of its shape. The data will help determine potential sites for later sample collection.

Спойлер

OSIRIS-REx's mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth. Asteroids are remnants of the building blocks that formed the planets and enabled life. Those like Bennu contain natural resources, such as water, organics and metals. Future space exploration and economic development may rely on asteroids for these materials.

"As explorers, we at NASA have never shied away from the most extreme challenges in the solar system in our quest for knowledge," said Lori Glaze, acting director for NASA's Planetary Science Division. "Now we're at it again, working with our partners in the U.S. and Canada to accomplish the Herculean task of bringing back to Earth a piece of the early solar system."

The mission's navigation team will use the preliminary survey of Bennu to practice the delicate task of navigating around the asteroid. The spacecraft will enter orbit around Bennu on Dec. 31 –thus making Bennu, which is only about 1,600 feet (492 meters) across — or about the length of five football fields — the smallest object ever orbited by a spacecraft. It's a critical step in OSIRIS-REx's years-long quest to collect and eventually deliver at least two ounces (60 grams) of regolith — dirt and rocks — from Bennu to Earth.

Starting in October, OSIRIS-REx performed a series of braking maneuvers to slow the spacecraft down as it approached Bennu. These maneuvers also targeted a trajectory to set up Monday's maneuver, which initiates the first north pole flyover and marks the spacecraft's arrival at Bennu.

"The OSIRIS-REx team is proud to cross another major milestone off our list — asteroid arrival," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "Initial data from the approach phase show this object to have exceptional scientific value. We can't wait to start our exploration of Bennu in earnest. We've been preparing for this moment for years, and we're ready."

OSIRIS-REx mission marks many firsts in space exploration. It will be the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth and the largest sample returned from space since the Apollo era. It's the first to study a primitive B-type asteroid, which is an asteroid that's rich in carbon and organic molecules that make up life on Earth. It is also the first mission to study a potentially hazardous asteroid and try to determine the factors that alter their courses to bring them close to Earth.

"During our approach toward Bennu, we have taken observations at much higher resolution than were available from Earth," said Rich Burns, the project manager of OSIRIS-REx at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "These observations have revealed an asteroid that is both consistent with our expectations from ground-based measurements and an exceptionally interesting small world. Now we embark on gaining experience flying our spacecraft about such a small body."

When OSIRIS-REx begins to orbit Bennu at the end of this month, it will come close to approximately three quarters of a mile (1.25 kilometers) to its surface. In February 2019, the spacecraft begins efforts to globally map Bennu to determine the best site for sample collection. After the collection site is selected, the spacecraft will briefly touch the surface of Bennu to retrieve a sample. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to return the sample to Earth in September 2023.

Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission's science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

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https://www.asteroidmission.org/osiris-rex-agu-2018/

OSIRIS-REx at AGU 2018

Get ready for some asteroid science. Now that OSIRIS-REx has arrived at Bennu, the mission team will be presenting the initial results of their scientific studies of the asteroid during the spacecraft's Approach Phase. The highlights will be discussed at a press conference on Dec. 10 at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in Washington, DC. For conference attendees, three special scientific sessions in collaboration with JAXA's Hayabusa2 mission will explore the early results from both missions in more detail on Dec. 11 and 12 (schedule below).

Experts from the OSIRIS-REx mission team will also answer questions from the public via Twitter from 3 – 4 pm ET on Dec. 11. Use the hashtag #BennuChat on Twitter to submit your question.
 
PRESS CONFERENCE

Welcome to Bennu: First asteroid science data obtained by the OSIRIS-REx mission
Monday, 10 December
2:00 pm ET
Watch the live stream
Marriott Marquis Shaw/LeDroit Park Room (Level M3)

Спойлер

In August, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft caught its first view of the asteroid Bennu. Since then, the mission team has been learning new information about this small world almost daily. This briefing will cover the first Bennu science discovered by the mission, to include the updated shape model, resolved imaging, spectral and thermal properties, as well as how this new information compares to the Bennu data gathered from Earth.

Participants:
Jeff Grossman, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Dante Lauretta, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Michael Nolan, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Amy Simon, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Related Sessions: P21A, P22A, P33C
 
ORAL SESSIONS

P21A: A First Look at 162173 Ryugu and 101955 Bennu: Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx Arrive at Their Respective Target Asteroids, Part I
Tuesday, 11 December 2018
8:00 – 10:00 am ET
Walter E Washington Convention Center – 207A

P22A: A First Look at 162173 Ryugu and 101955 Bennu: Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx Arrive at Their Respective Target Asteroids, Part II
Tuesday, 11 December 2018
10:20 – 12:20 am ET
Walter E. Washington Convention Center – 207A
 
TWITTER Q&A

On Tuesday, Dec. 11 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm ET (1:00 to 2:00 pm MT), experts from the OSIRIS-REx team will answer questions on Twitter about the mission and the discoveries we have made about Bennu so far. Use the hashtag #BennuChat on Twitter to submit your questions.

What: Experts from the OSIRIS-REx mission will answer questions about asteroid Bennu and what's next for OSIRIS-REx
When: Tue. Dec. 11, 2018 3:00 -4:00 pm ET
Where: Use the hashtag #BennuChat on Twitter
Who: Mission experts including:

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• Dante Lauretta – OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator and Professor, University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Lab
• Jason Dworkin – OSIRIS-REx Project Scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
• Vicky Hamilton – OSIRIS-REx Lead Spectral Scientist and OTES Deputy Instrument Scientist, Southwest Research Institute
• Carl Hergenrother – OSIRIS-REx Astronomy Lead, University of Arizona
• Keara Burke – OSIRIS-REx Image Processing Intern and Undergraduate Student, University of Arizona
  

POSTER SESSION

P33C: A First Look at 162173 Ryugu and 101955 Bennu: Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx Arrive at Their Respective Target Asteroids, Part III – Posters

Wednesday, 12 December 2018
1:40 – 6:00 pm ET
Walter E. Washington Convention Center – Hall A-C (Poster Hall)

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http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/topics/20181210e_OSIRISREx/

The US asteroid explorer, OSIRIS-REx, arrived at its destination, asteroid Bennu, on December 3, 2018 (U.S. time) !

We sent the team an arrival celebration video letter from all of us at JAXA and the Hayabusa2 project.

Message from the Director General of JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS), Hitoshi Kuninaka

Message from the Hayabusa2 Project Manager, Yuichi Tsuda

Hayabusa2 project
2018.12.10

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Брифинг завершен

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Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 56 мин. назад

WATER on asteroid Bennu! Amazing find by @OSIRISREx NASA spacecraft!

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx‏Подлинная учетная запись @OSIRISREx 1 ч. назад

Here it is. The highest resolution imagery of #asteroid Bennu so far: A mosaic of 12 images captured with PolyCam on Dec. 2 from about 15 miles (24 km) away. Each pixel represents about 13 inches (33 cm) on Bennu's surface. #WelcomeToBennu #AGU18 http://bit.ly/BennuSci 

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx‏Подлинная учетная запись @OSIRISREx 1 ч. назад

Which brings us to something big... We found water on Bennu! Two of my spectrometers – OVIRS and OTES – detected the chemical fingerprints of water bound up in hydrated clay minerals over a large part of the asteroid's surface. #WelcomeToBennu #AGU18 https://go.nasa.gov/2C40bop 

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx‏Подлинная учетная запись @OSIRISREx 1 ч. назад

The OVIRS and OTES spectra of asteroid Bennu also mirror those of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that contain both water and organic compounds – exactly the type of material we hope to return in 2023! #WelcomeToBennu #AGU18




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While Bennu is too small to have free-flowing water or chunks of ice, our data suggest the asteroid's larger parent body hosted liquid water in the distant past. It also means that mining water from asteroids like Bennu may be possible on future missions. #WelcomeToBennu #AGU18