Osiris-Rex said goodbye to Penn

Since he approached him in October 2018, he has spent almost two and a half years in his company and is now preparing for a ‘greeting’ in style: we are talking about the investigation Osiris-Rex Of NASA, Which is preparing to say goodbye to the asteroid Determining – With the final flight – before embarking on the maneuvers to bring back the precious earth Samples Last collected October 20.

The Over Flight, Is planned next April 7, Was not initially part of the ‘road map’ of the study, but was later planned: the purpose of the maneuver New pictures Check the functionality of Withdrawal The models caused some Change On the surface Determining. Further Thrusters of Osiris-RexAlso, they may be Moved Material and therefore may have been left out Identification In the face of the asteroid.

The mission team recently aDetailed analysis Of Path The investigation should be followed to observe Determining – and above all the collection site Nightingale – From a safe distance of about 3.8 kilometers. The leaving When the spacecraft performed, it would reflect one of the surveillance maneuvers conducted in 2019 Extensive survey. During the greeting a Determining, Osiris-Rex Photographer and Two hemispheres And this Equatorial belt Asteroid of High resolution; New pictures will be placed later Comparison With 2019 to carry out the above verification.

This new phase of work is defined Pto-Post-Tag Observation (Tag, Or D.ouch and G.Or, an abbreviation of thisWithdrawal function Models). I For The maneuvers brought the study towards the asteroid and planned to place it Perfect position For excessive travel; In fact, after the sample collection event, Osiris-Rex It is slow Stay away from Penn Eventually she found herself in the distance 2200 kilometers From this. The first maneuver was carried out last January 14, The next is planned March 6 When the spacecraft is 250 kilometers away from the asteroid.

After the greeting on April 7, Osiris-Rex Preparations for the trip to Earth will begin on May 10th. Arrival of the capsule Model Retun, Samples are loaded and scheduled September 24, 2023 In the western desert Utah, Utah where testing and training range is located.