Thales: journeying to asteroid Bennu on board OSIRIS-Rex

A growing proportion of our innovations (telecommunications, internet, assisted navigation, meteorology) have become possible thanks to space exploration. Since the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, man has always dreamed of travelling into the depths of the cosmos to bring back samples taken from planets and other celestial bodies. Today, that dream has become a reality.

Veni, Bennu, Vici

Following in the footsteps of the Japanese programme Hayabusa launched in 2010, OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explore) was launched on the 8th September 2016. With a brief flyby of the Earth in September 2017 giving a final push, the probe took off to the asteroid Bennu – a giant with a 500 meter diameter – to observe it from every angle and gather its sample. The probe will approach its final destination in December 2018. Today, OSIRIS-Rex has the asteroid in sight.  Bennu is of great interest to scientists as its current trajectory suggests a potential collision with the Earth in approximately 164 years.

The main goal of OSIRIS-REx is to understand the formation of the planets, and more generally the creation of the solar system.  In addition to the hope of finding molecular traces (sugars, acids, carbon molecules), astronomers put forward another hypothesis; that of the investigation into whether it is asteroids that brought to Earth the water in our oceans. To answer these questions, the ultimate quest of the probe is to collect samples of dust from the surface of Bennu to be brought back to Earth in 2023. This sampling must be substantial enough to carry out in-depth studies, impossible to carry out in orbit.  The team hopes to collect a minimum of two 60g blocks of material to achieve their scientific objectives.

From asteroid to Earth : instant communication  

How does OSIRIS-Rex, whilst exploring deep space, manage to communicate daily with the scientists at NASA? To understand the formation of the solar system, scientists of the mission need direct high-power connection to interact with it. To make such an exchange possible, Thales Microwave & Imaging Sub-Systems (MIS) has provided NASA with 3 X-band power amplification tubes TH4300CC. This 101 Watt model uses frequencies between 8.395 and 8.465 GHz, and allows NASA to control the trajectory of the probe, ensure its health, and to study the characteristics of Bennu’s surface. The information gathered then travels in waves back to planet Earth at the speed of light (about 300,000 km/s). As such, all the recent telemetric information suggests that all the probe’s devices have worked correctly. Before its arrival at the asteroid Bennu, at the start of December 2018, the probe will have to make a series of approach maneuvers before it stabilises and then orbits.

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