The OSIRIS-REx probe will soon return to Earth. He is preparing for his final approach with Penn

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will soon be finalized straight before returning to Earth. The ship was launched from our planet in September 2016, and in October 2020 it “stuck” to the asteroid Pennu for 6 seconds and took rock samples from its surface.

OSIRIS-REx will soon begin returning to Earth

As announced by NASA, The OSIRIS-REx mission will last reach Penn on April 7 (currently in orbit around the asteroid). It will then fly 3.7 km from the surface of the facility, which is very close to where it was six months ago.

During close flight, this probe will photograph the surface of the pen for nearly 6 hours. It is expected to provide scientists with several new high-resolution images of the northern and southern hemispheres of the Penn and its equator. Photos will then be compared with related frames from 2019 onwards.

OSIRIS-REx’s Last Approach to the Asteroid Pennu – Artist’s View Leg. NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona

The study will be near the asteroid until May 10. Then the process of returning to our planet will begin. A lot Lasts more than two years.

The spacecraft will reach our planet’s atmosphere on September 24, 2023. The probe will then discard a special container sample return capsule (SRC) for samples taken from the meteorite, which will then land on parachutes at the Utah test and training ground.

It may be recalled that there were some problems with the closing of the container at NASA last October. This algorithm did not work initially because the ship blocked more stones from the asteroid. Eventually, however, all problems were removed and the samples were preserved in a container.