Jay Clemens
Lockheed Martin has shipped its asteroid sampling spacecraft to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final processing prior to the spacecraft’s launch toward an asteroid believed to hold answers about the solar system’s origin.
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security – Regolith Explorer spacecraft was transported Friday from Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado aboard a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, Lockheed said Monday.
Rich Kuhns, OSIRIS-REx program manager at Lockheed’s space systems unit, said the spacecraft previously completed environmental tests and will undergo preparations for its mission to the asteroid Bennu.
OSIRIS-REx will go through various evaluations, including a spin test, solar array release test, electrical system tests and propellant loading at NASA Kennedy.
The spacecraft is set for launch on Sept. 8 onboard a United Launch Alliance-built Atlas V 411 rocket bound for Bennu, where OSIRIS-REx is expected to land in late 2018 to collect samples of asteroid material before its return to Earth in 2023.
Lockheed is responsible for the design, launch processing and mission operations of the spacecraft, while NASA Goddard Space Flight Center handles the overall mission, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx.
