OSIRIS-REx: Countdown to TAG

Trailer for the OSIRIS-REx TAG Event

Universal Production Music: "The Glory of Victory" by Frederik Wiedmann

Credit: NASA/Goddard

1. Zurbuchen - OSIRIS-REx Overview

Top Left: OSIRIS-REx Launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket on September 8, 2016 at 7:05 pm EDT.

Top Right: Image of Bennu was taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

Center: Image of sample site Nightingale Crater, OSIRIS-REx’s primary sample collection site on asteroid Bennu, overlaid with a graphic of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to illustrate the scale of the site.

Bottom Left: Image of OSIRIS-REx’s SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA spacecraft approaches asteroid Bennu’s surface, taking during the second dress rehearsal for sample collection on August 11, 2020.

Bottom Center: Illustration of trajectory and configuration of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during Checkpoint rehearsal, which was the first time the mission practiced the initial steps of collecting a sample from asteroid Bennu.

Bottom Right: Image of Sierra Gonzalez, Lockheed Martin Systems Engineer, taken April 14, 2020 during the four-hour rehearsal of the Checkpoint maneuver in which OSIRIS-REx came within 125 meters (410 feet) of Bennu’s surface.

Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/ Lockheed Martin/United Launch Alliance

1. Glaze - Asteroid missions and sample return

Top Left: Apollo sample processors (from left to right) Andrea Mosie, Charis Krysher and Juliane Gross open lunar sample 73002 at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Moon rocks inside this tube have remained untouched since they were collected on the surface and brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts nearly 50 years ago.

Top Right: Scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot, collects lunar rake samples at Station 1 during the mission's first spacewalk at the Taurus-Littrow landing site.

Center: Illustration showing NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface.

Bottom Left: Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft prior to impact at the Didymos binary system.

Bottom Center: Illustration of NASA’s Lucy spacecraft performing a flyby of a Jupiter Trojan.

Bottom Right: Illustration of NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft with Five-Panel Array.

Credits: NASA/Goddard/JPL-Caltech / Arizona State University/University of Arizona/Johns Hopkins APL/Space Systems Loral/James Blair/Steve Gribben/Peter Rubin

1. Lauretta - OSIRIS-REx Acronym

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

2. Lauretta - Asteroid 101955 Bennu rotating

This rotating mosaic of asteroid Bennu is composed of 40 images captured by the PolyCam imager onboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft over a four-hour period on December 2, 2018. During the observation period, the spacecraft’s range to the center of the asteroid decreased from about 15.3 to 14.6 miles (24.6 to 23.5 km).

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

3. Lauretta - Bennu science highlights

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

4. Lauretta - Bennu candidate sites and Nightingale flyover

Data provided by NASA/University of Arizona/CSA/York University/MDA

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SVS

1. Moreau - OSIRIS-REx Matchpoint rehearsal

Captured on August 11, 2020 during the second rehearsal of the OSIRIS-REx mission’s sample collection event, this series of images shows the SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA spacecraft approaches asteroid Bennu’s surface. The rehearsal brought the spacecraft through the first three maneuvers of the sampling sequence to a point approximately 131 feet (40 meters) above the surface, after which the spacecraft performed a back-away burn.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

2. Moreau - TAG Event timeline

Preview of the OSIRIS-REx TAG timeline. To grab a sample of Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will break orbit and perform a series of engine burns in order to safely touch down at site Nightingale.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SVS/CI Lab

3. Moreau - Natural Feature Tracking

OSIRIS-REx will autonomously steer itself to site Nightingale using an optical navigation technique called Natural Feature Tracking. Watch video on NFT.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

4. Moreau - Sampling area to Scale

This artist concept animation shows a size comparison of the planned sample collection area before arriving at Bennu (orange), and after arriving at Bennu (blue). The original mission plan envisioned a sample site with a diameter of 164 feet (50 m). However, the sampling region for site Nightingale is approximately 26 ft (8 m) in diameter. The area safe enough for the spacecraft to touch is the width of a few parking spaces.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

5. Moreau - Sampling area Hazard Maps

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

6. Moreau - TAG "What If?" Hazards

During its descent to site Nightingale, OSIRIS-REx could encounter several hazardous scenarios that would prevent it from collecting a sample of asteroid Bennu on its first attempt, including: Wave-Off, TAG on a boulder, and TAG on rocks.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

1. Freund - TAGSAM Explained

OSIRIS-REx descends to the surface of asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of fine-grained material from site Nightingale using its TAGSAM instrument.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

2. Freund - Sample Stow

Following collection, OSIRIS-REx will stow its sample of asteroid Bennu for return to Earth in September 2023.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

3. Freund - Sample Return

When OSIRIS-REx returns to Earth, it will release the Sample Return Capsule for touchdown in the Utah desert on September 24, 2023.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

5. Lauretta - Sample Verification

Following TAG, OSIRIS-REx will use SamCam to visually inspect the TAGSAM head and confirm that it has collected a sample from Bennu.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

6. Lauretta - Sample Mass Measurement

After imaging the TAGSAM head, OSIRIS-REx will perform a spin maneuver with its TAGSAM arm extended to determine the mass of the collected sample.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

7. Lauretta - Sample Return Capsule opening

Close up of the OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule opening, and the TAGSAM head becoming translucent to reveal material collected from asteroid Bennu.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

Slate for T-30 press briefing

Credit: NASA/Goddard