NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Executes Second Asteroid Approach Maneuver | NASA

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Executes Second Asteroid Approach Maneuver | NASA

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx 

Executes Second Asteroid 

Approach Maneuver

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft executed its second Asteroid Approach Maneuver (AAM-2) today. The spacecraft’s main engine thrusters fired in a braking maneuver designed to slow the spacecraft’s speed relative to Bennu from 315 mph (141 m/sec) to 11.8 mph (5.2 m/sec). Likewise, the spacecraft’s approach speed dropped from nearly 7,580 miles (12,200 km) to 280 miles (450 km) per day. The mission team will continue to examine telemetry and tracking data and will have more information over the next week. This burn marked the last planned use of the spacecraft’s main engines prior to OSIRIS-REx’s departure from Bennu in March 2021.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is in the midst of a six-week series of maneuvers designed to fly the spacecraft through a precise corridor toward Bennu. AAM-1, which executed on Oct. 1, slowed the spacecraft by 785.831 mph (351.298 m/sec) and consumed 532.4 pounds (241.5 kilograms) of fuel. AAM-3 is scheduled for October 29. The last of the burns, AAM-4, is scheduled for November 12 and will adjust the spacecraft’s trajectory to arrive at a position 12 miles (20 km) from Bennu on December 3. After arrival, the spacecraft will perform a series of fly-bys over Bennu’s poles and equator.

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Banner Image: Illustration of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during a burn of its main engine.
Credit: University of Arizona

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Nancy Neal Jones
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Erin Morton
University of Arizona

Last Updated: Oct. 16, 2018

Editor: Karl Hille