NASA asteroid sampling mission renamed OSIRIS-APEX for new journey

The previous OSIRIS-REx spacecraft units off on a journey to check asteroid Apophis and reap the benefits of the asteroid’s 2029 flyby of Earth, the likes of which hasn’t occurred because the daybreak of recorded historical past.

On the finish of a long-haul street journey, it is perhaps time to kick up your toes and relaxation awhile—particularly if it was a seven-year, 4 billion-mile journey to convey Earth a pattern of asteroid Bennu. However OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Useful resource Identification and Safety—Regolith Explorer), the NASA mission that completed this feat in September, is already effectively on its manner (with a brand new identify) to discover a brand new vacation spot.

When OSIRIS-REx left Bennu in Could 2021 with a pattern aboard, its devices have been in nice situation, and it nonetheless had 1 / 4 of its gas left. So as a substitute of shutting down the spacecraft after it delivered the pattern, the staff proposed to dispatch it on a bonus mission to asteroid Apophis, with an anticipated arrival in April 2029. NASA agreed, and OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Useful resource Identification, and Safety—Apophis Explorer) was born.

A Uncommon Alternative at Apophis

After contemplating a number of locations (together with Venus and varied comets), NASA selected to ship the spacecraft to Apophis, an “S-type” asteroid fabricated from silicate supplies and nickel-iron—a good bit completely different than the carbon-rich, “C-type” Bennu.

The intrigue of Apophis is its exceptionally close approach of our planet on April 13, 2029. Though Apophis is not going to hit Earth throughout this encounter or within the foreseeable future, the move in 2029 will convey the asteroid inside 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of the floor—nearer than some satellites, and shut sufficient that it might be seen to the bare eye within the Japanese Hemisphere.

Scientists estimate that asteroids of Apophis’ dimension, about 367 yards throughout (about 340 meters), come this near Earth solely as soon as each 7,500 years.

“OSIRIS-APEX will research Apophis instantly after such a move, permitting us to see how its floor modifications by interacting with Earth’s gravity,” stated Amy Simon, the mission’s venture scientist primarily based at NASA’s Goddard Area Flight Heart in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Apophis’ shut encounter with Earth will change the asteroid’s orbit and the size of its 30.6-hour day. The encounter additionally could trigger quakes and landslides on the asteroid’s floor that would churn up materials and uncover what lies beneath.

“The shut strategy is a superb pure experiment,” stated Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina, principal investigator for OSIRIS-APEX on the College of Arizona in Tucson. “We all know that tidal forces and the buildup of rubble pile materials are foundational processes that would play a job in planet formation. They might inform how we acquired from particles within the early solar system to full-blown planets.”

Apophis represents extra than simply the chance to study extra about how solar techniques and planets kind: Because it occurs, many of the identified probably hazardous asteroids (these whose orbits come inside 4.6 million miles of Earth) are additionally S-types. What the staff learns about Apophis can inform planetary protection analysis, a prime precedence for NASA.

OSIRIS-APEX: Journey Itinerary

By April 2, 2029—round two weeks earlier than Apophis’ shut encounter with Earth— OSIRIS-APEX’s cameras will start taking photographs of the asteroid because the spacecraft catches as much as it. Apophis can even be intently noticed by Earth-based telescopes throughout this time. However within the hours after the shut encounter, Apophis will seem too close to the sun within the sky to be noticed by ground-based optical telescopes. This implies any modifications triggered by the shut encounter will likely be greatest detected by the spacecraft.

OSIRIS-APEX will arrive on the asteroid on April 13, 2029, and function in its proximity for concerning the subsequent 18 months. Along with learning modifications to Apophis brought on by its Earth encounter, the spacecraft will conduct lots of the identical investigations OSIRIS-REx did at Bennu, together with utilizing its instrument suite of imagers, spectrometers, and a laser altimeter to intently map the floor and analyze its chemical make-up.

As an encore, OSIRIS-APEX will reprise certainly one of OSIRIS-REx’s most spectacular acts (minus pattern assortment), dipping inside 16 toes of the asteroid’s floor and firing its thrusters downward. This maneuver will fire up floor rocks and dust to provide scientists a peek on the materials that lies under.

Though the rendezvous with Apophis is greater than 5 years away, the subsequent milestone on its journey is the primary of six shut sun passes. These close to approaches, together with three gravity assists from Earth, will put OSIRIS-APEX on track to succeed in Apophis in April 2029.

What OSIRIS-APEX will uncover about Apophis stays to be seen, but when the mission’s earlier incarnation is any indication, stunning science lies forward. “We discovered rather a lot at Bennu, however now we’re armed with much more questions for our subsequent goal,” Simon stated.