Aviation Week reports that NASA’s long-running Osiris-Rex mission “to the asteroid Bennu has received a nine-year, $200 million extension and the promise of a new name, Osiris-Apophis Explorer (Osiris-Apex), as it travels to its new second destination, Apophis, an asteroid that is to make a close approach to Earth.”
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Tag: Asteroid
Wright Electric Demonstrates Inverter for Future Electric Propulsion System
Aviation International News reports that Wright Electric “has completed what it says will be a key element in its plans to develop an electric propulsion system that could potentially power a single-aisle airliner to enter commercial service by 2030.” The company “reported late last week that it has successfully demonstrated the inverter that will convert DC power from batteries to the AC power that will drive electric motors.” The company now will work “on integrating the inverter with a 2 MW motor that the Wright team is developing in-house. The company plans next year to conduct high-altitude chamber testing with the configuration as part of the process of qualifying it for flight testing.” Wright Electric CEO Jeff Engler “told AIN that the company is planning for a program launch in 2024.”
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OSIRIS-REx Begins Trip Back to Earth
Reuters reports that on Monday, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft began its trip back to Earth after its sample collection mission on asteroid Bennu. The trip “back to Earth will take about two years.” NASA “says samples will be distributed to research laboratories worldwide, but 75% of the samples will be preserved at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for future generations to study with technologies not yet created.”
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OSIRIS-REx Spends Nearly Six Hours Imaging Asteroid Bennu in Flyby Wednesday
CNET News reports that on Wednesday, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft conducted a flyover of asteroid Bennu, from which it had collected a sample in October 2020. NASA said that it decided to do the flyby to examine “the extent of the mess it made” on the asteroid when it collected the sample. NASA “said Osiris-Rex successfully completed the flyover and spent nearly six hours imaging the asteroid.” In a Wednesday statement, NASA said, “It will take until at least April 13 for Osiris-Rex to downlink all of the data and new pictures of Bennu’s surface recorded during the flyby.”
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NASA Says OSIRIS-REx Will Leave Asteroid Bennu May 10
The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA announced Tuesday that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will leave asteroid Bennu on May 10. OSIRIS-REx Deputy Project Manager Michael Moreau said, “Leaving Bennu’s vicinity in May puts us in the ‘sweet spot,’ when the departure maneuver will consume the least amount of the spacecraft’s onboard fuel.” The departure date “could also provide time for the OSIRIS-REx team to conduct a final flyby of Bennu. This would provide another look at the site where the spacecraft collected samples – to determine how its touch-and-go maneuver affected the surface of Bennu – and could be used to check the spacecraft’s scientific instruments and see if they’re healthy enough to possibly extend the mission after Bennu’s samples are returned to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.” The flight back to Earth is expected to take two years.
Full Story (Houston Chronicle)