Paging Bennu—OSIRIS-REx to launch Sept. 8
2016-08-30
NASA is gearing up to launch the United States’ first mission to sample an asteroid, Bennu, with activities at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida beginning Sept. 6 and culminating with the spacecraft launch Sept. 8. Various activities will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket between 6:05 and 8:05 p.m. CDT Sept. 8 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, neighboring Kennedy in Florida.
The full schedule of events and NASA TV coverage is as follows:
Tuesday, Sept. 6
Noon – Prelaunch mission briefing at the Kennedy Press Site
This briefing will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. Briefing participants are:
This briefing will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. Briefing participants are:
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – OSIRIS-REx Talk from Kennedy’s Operations Support Building II (OSB II)
NASA will host a discussion with representatives from the mission’s science and engineering teams that includes an overview of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and the science behind the mission. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
Noon to 1 p.m. – Uncovering the Secrets of Asteroids
During this panel at OSB II, NASA scientists will discuss asteroids, how they relate to the origins of our solar system and the search for life beyond Earth. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Panelists for this conversation are:
Thursday, Sept. 8
3:30 p.m. – Launch Coverage Begins
Live coverage of the OSIRIS-REx mission launch will begin on NASA TV and the agency’s website with the start of cryogenic tanking of the Atlas V rocket, and conclude approximately one hour after launch.
6:05 to 8:05 p.m. – Launch window for the OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft
The launch will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
Approximately Two Hours After Launch – Post-Launch News Conference
Representatives from NASA and ULA will discuss the status of the spacecraft and next steps on the asteroid sampling mission. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid. OSIRIS-REx will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, arriving in 2018, to survey the surface, retrieve at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of surface material and return it to Earth in 2023 for study. Analysis of the sample will reveal the earliest stages of the solar system’s evolution and the history of Bennu over the past 4.5 billion years.
Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. The University of Arizona leads the science team and observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems built the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for its Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Launch management is conducted by the Launch Services Program at Kennedy.
To read more about Johnson Space Center’s role in the mission, read the latest issue of Roundup (page 8).
To learn more about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
To watch NASA TV programming online, or for downlink or schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket between 6:05 and 8:05 p.m. CDT Sept. 8 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, neighboring Kennedy in Florida.
The full schedule of events and NASA TV coverage is as follows:
Tuesday, Sept. 6
Noon – Prelaunch mission briefing at the Kennedy Press Site
This briefing will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. Briefing participants are:
- Geoffrey Yoder, acting associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington
- Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson
- Tim Dunn, NASA launch manager at Kennedy
- Scott Messer, program manager for NASA missions at ULA in Centennial, Colorado
- Michael Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
- Rich Kuhns, OSIRIS-REx program manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver
- Clay Flinn, launch weather officer for the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
This briefing will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. Briefing participants are:
- Christina Richey, OSIRIS-REx deputy program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington
- Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at Goddard
- Daniella DellaGiustina, OSIRIS-REx lead image processing scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – OSIRIS-REx Talk from Kennedy’s Operations Support Building II (OSB II)
NASA will host a discussion with representatives from the mission’s science and engineering teams that includes an overview of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and the science behind the mission. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
Noon to 1 p.m. – Uncovering the Secrets of Asteroids
During this panel at OSB II, NASA scientists will discuss asteroids, how they relate to the origins of our solar system and the search for life beyond Earth. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Panelists for this conversation are:
- Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist
- Michelle Thaller, deputy director of science communications for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
- Lindley Johnson, director of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
- Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at Goddard
Thursday, Sept. 8
3:30 p.m. – Launch Coverage Begins
Live coverage of the OSIRIS-REx mission launch will begin on NASA TV and the agency’s website with the start of cryogenic tanking of the Atlas V rocket, and conclude approximately one hour after launch.
6:05 to 8:05 p.m. – Launch window for the OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft
The launch will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
Approximately Two Hours After Launch – Post-Launch News Conference
Representatives from NASA and ULA will discuss the status of the spacecraft and next steps on the asteroid sampling mission. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid. OSIRIS-REx will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, arriving in 2018, to survey the surface, retrieve at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of surface material and return it to Earth in 2023 for study. Analysis of the sample will reveal the earliest stages of the solar system’s evolution and the history of Bennu over the past 4.5 billion years.
Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. The University of Arizona leads the science team and observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems built the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for its Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Launch management is conducted by the Launch Services Program at Kennedy.
To read more about Johnson Space Center’s role in the mission, read the latest issue of Roundup (page 8).
To learn more about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
To watch NASA TV programming online, or for downlink or schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
This artist's concept shows the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security - Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with the Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism, or TAGSAM. The mission aims to return a sample of Bennu's surface coating to Earth for study, as well as return detailed information about the asteroid and its trajectory. Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center