Fri, Jun 03, 2011
Flight Will Be First To Return Asteroid Samples To Earth
NASA announced a new robotic science mission to be launched in
2016 that will retrieve samples from an asteroid. The mission,
called Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource
Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, will be
the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to
Earth. Tempe, AZ-based KinetX has partnered with the OSIRIS-REx
Principal Investigator, Dr. Michael Drake of the University of
Arizona in Tucson, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to be the
primary provider of deep space mission design and navigation for
the mission.
Starting later this year, KinetX will begin participating in the
development of the mission and navigation systems that will be
implemented and tested by the 2016 launch. After launch, KinetX
personnel will perform mission design and navigation operations
including trajectory optimization, orbit determination and
propulsive maneuver design to guide the spacecraft to a soft
touch-down on the asteroid surface in 2020 to collect the sample.
KinetX will also provide these services for the return flight to
Earth, which begins with departure from the asteroid in 2021 and
ends with arrival at Earth in 2023.
The company is currently providing similar mission design and
navigation services for two NASA missions: the MESSENGER mission
that is currently orbiting the planet Mercury and the New Horizons
mission that is on its way to fly by Pluto in 2015.
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