Live Broadcast of NASA's OSIRIS-REx Capsule Landing Process

Delivery time2023-09-23 06:00

NASA broadcasts the capsule landing process live on NASA TV and social media on the night of the 24th

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Joo-young = A sample capsule from NASA’s asteroid probe ‘OSIRIS-REx’ containing soil and gravel from the asteroid ‘Bennu’ will be released at 11 a.m. on the 24th. (US Eastern Time. 12 PM Korean Time) Returns to Earth.

Osiris-Rex Sample Return Capsule Drop Training

A sample capsule model drop training is underway at the Department of Defense Test and Training Center in Utah, USA, on August 30 ahead of the asteroid probe Osiris-Rex’s asteroid sample capsule return to Earth, scheduled for the 24th. [NASA/Keegan Barber 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

NASA announced on the 23rd that the Osiris-Rex asteroid sample capsule was scheduled to land at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Center in the Utah desert on the morning of the 24th, and this scene was broadcast on NASA TV (https://www.nasa.gov/live) and social media to broadcast live an hour before landing.

Osiris-Rex is currently flying towards Earth at a speed of 23,000 km per hour. On the 17th, the thruster was briefly operated at a point more than 3 million km away from Earth, completing the final speed and orbit adjustment for return to Earth.

Osiris-Rex will release a capsule containing samples of Bennu at a point of 102,000 km above the Earth on the 24th. The released capsule will fall to Earth, open a parachute to slow down, and then fly to a 58 km x 14 km area set in the Utah desert. It is scheduled to fall in the area where it is scheduled to fall.

asteroid benu

[NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona 제공. EPA 연합뉴스 자료사진. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

Osiris-Rex, with an investment of 1 billion dollars, was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Center in September 2016, and after a two-year flight, it was launched in December 2018 as a 500m wide orbiting the sun 130 million km away from Earth. Arrived above the diamond-shaped asteroid Bennu.

Osiris-Rex carried out exploration activities around Bennu for about two years and landed on the surface of Benu in October 2020, using a 3.35m robotic arm to collect 250g of samples, including soil and gravel, from the sponge-like surface of Bennu. Then, it set off to return to Earth in May 2021.

Robotic arm and sample collector taken during Bennu landing rehearsal

[NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona 제공. AP 연합뉴스 자료사진. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

NASA plans to retrieve the sample capsule and send it to Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. In addition to analyzing the samples in-house, JSC plans to preserve more than 75% of the samples at the center for further study by scientists around the world, including future generations.

NASA will preserve more than 75 percent of the samples at NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston for further study by scientists around the world, including future generations.

Scientists hope that by analyzing asteroid samples containing materials from the early days of the solar system, they will be able to find clues about the role that carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu played in the emergence of life on Earth.

Scientists estimate that rocky asteroids like Bennu, which formed planets in the early days of the solar system, collided with the early Earth and delivered organic substances containing carbon that could become the building blocks of life to Earth.

The Osiris-Rex probe will drop the asteroid sample capsule to Earth and then continue flying for the next exploration mission. The probe is scheduled to arrive at Apophis, another potential Earth-threatening asteroid, in 2029 and conduct exploration activities.

Poster for NASA’s Osiris-Rex sample capsule return event

[NASA.gov 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

To commemorate the return to Earth of the asteroid samples collected by Osiris-Rex, NASA opened the NASA Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to the public on the 24th and held the sample capsule landing process that day at 10 a.m. (11 p.m. Korean time). It was announced that it will be broadcast live through NASA TV and social media.

[email protected]