[meteorite-list] Second Instrument Delivered for OSIRIS-REx Mission

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2015 15:19:11 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201507102219.t6AMJB7G005096_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://uanews.org/story/second-instrument-delivered-for-osiris-rex-mission

Second Instrument Delivered for OSIRIS-REx Mission
University of Arizona
July 8, 2015

[Image]
In a clean room facility near Denver, Lockheed Martin technicians continue
assembling NASA's OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft that will collect samples of an
asteroid. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

A spectrometer that will help the UA-led OSIRIS-REx mission team select
a suitable sampling site on asteroid Bennu has arrived at Lockheed Martin's
spacecraft assembly facility, ready to be integrated into the nascent
spacecraft.

[Image]
The OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer, or OVIRS, will measure
visible and near infrared light from the asteroid Bennu, which can be
used to identify water and organic materials. (Photo: NASA/GSFC/Bill Hrybyk)

An instrument that will explore the surface of a primitive asteroid in
search of water and organic materials has arrived at Lockheed Martin for
installation onto NASA?s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification
and Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx.

The OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer, or OVIRS, instrument
measures visible and near infrared light from the asteroid Bennu that
can be used to identify water and organic materials. NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, built the instrument.

"The delivery of OVIRS to the spacecraft means the mission now has the
capability to measure the minerals and chemicals at the sample site on
Bennu," said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at
the University of Arizona. "I greatly appreciate the hard work and innovation
the OVIRS team demonstrated during the creation of this instrument."

OVIRS, a point spectrometer, will split the light from Bennu into its
component wavelengths, similar to a prism that splits sunlight into a
rainbow, but over a much broader range of wavelengths. Different chemicals
have unique spectral signatures by absorbing sunlight and can be identified
in the reflected spectrum. The spectra provided by the instrument will
help guide sample site selection.

"Through the team's efforts, OVIRS has become a remarkably capable instrument,
which we expect to return exciting science from the asteroid Bennu," said
Dennis Reuter, OVIRS instrument lead from Goddard.

After thorough testing with the spacecraft on the ground, the instrument
will be powered on for check-out shortly after launch, with first science
data collected during the Earth gravity assist in September 2017.

OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. mission to return samples from an asteroid
to Earth for study. The mission is scheduled for launch in September 2016.
It will reach its asteroid target in 2018 and return a sample to Earth
in 2023.

The spacecraft will travel to Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid, and bring
back to Earth a sample of at least 2.1 ounces for study. The mission will
help scientists investigate the composition of the very early solar system
and the source of organic materials and water that made their way to Earth,
and improve understanding of asteroids that could impact our planet.

"The OVIRS team has met all of their technical requirements," said Mike
Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at Goddard Space Flight Center. "This
is another step in completing the spacecraft and sending it on its way
to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu."

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall
mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance
for OSIRIS-REx. Lauretta is the mission's principal investigator at the
UA. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft.
OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers
for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
Received on Fri 10 Jul 2015 06:19:11 PM PDT