OSIRIS-REx Adjusts Course to Target Sample Capsule’s Landing Zone

Lonnie ShekhtmanPosted onSeptember 11, 2023CategoriesOSIRIS-APEX, OSIRIS-REx, by Nasa.gov

On Sept. 10, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly fired its ACS (attitude control system) thrusters to point itself toward Earth, putting it on course to release its sample capsule, carrying rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, from 63,000 miles (or 102,000 kilometers) above Earth’s surface on Sunday, Sept. 24.

Yesterday’s trajectory-correction maneuver changed the spacecraft’s velocity about a ½ mph (less than 1 kph) relative to Earth. Without this tiny but critical shift, the spacecraft and its asteroid cargo would have flown past Earth.

To read the full article, please click the link below:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/11/osiris-rex-adjusts-course-to-target-sample-capsules-landing-zone/