The extended mission, called OSIRIS-APEX, will study near-Earth asteroid Apophis, which will have a close encounter with Earth in 2029. On September 24, 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will fly to Earth to deliver a sample of the Bennu asteroid. However, it will not end after that. NASA has expanded the University of Arizona mission, which will be renamed OSIRIS-APEX, to test the near-Earth asteroid Apophis for 18 months. Apophis will take a close approach to Earth in 2029. The mission will be led by the University of Arizona and will make its maiden voyage to Apophis 30 days after the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivered the sample collected by Bennu in October 2020. The initial mission team will be split at this point. , with the sample analysis team analyzing the Bennu sample and the spacecraft and instrument team going to OSIRIS-APEX, which means OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer. Imaging scientists Dathon Golish created this simulated image of the view of the asteroid Apophis near Earth on the APEX camera, based on a shape model produced by Marina Brozović of JPL and her colleagues. Credit: UArizona / JPL / Arecibo Regents Professor of Planetary Science Dante Lauretta will remain OSIRIS-REx’s lead researcher for the remainder of the mission’s two-year sample return phase. Dani DellaGiustina, Assistant Professor of Planetary Sciences and Deputy Chief Researcher at OSIRIS-REx, will then become the Chief Researcher at OSIRIS-APEX. The expansion adds another $ 200 million to the cost of shipping. The mission team conducted a thorough investigation into possible asteroid targets. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was built for what is called an appointment mission, which means that instead of flying a single object and quickly taking pictures and collecting data, it was designed to “get close to the object”. said DellaGiustina. “Our spaceship is really amazing in that.” “Apophis is one of the most notorious asteroids,” said DellaGiustina. “When it was first discovered in 2004, there was concern that it would hit Earth in 2029 during its close proximity. This danger was withdrawn after subsequent observations, but it will be the closest an asteroid of this size has reached in the approximately 50 years that asteroids have been closely monitored or for the next 100 years of asteroids we have discovered so far. It reaches one tenth of the distance between the Earth and the Moon during the meeting of 2029. People in Europe and Africa will be able to see it with the naked eye, so it will approach it. “We were excited to learn that the mission had been extended.” NASA OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return shipment. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center OSIRIS-REx was released in 2016 to collect a sample from Bennu that will help scientists learn about the formation of the solar system and the Earth as a habitable planet. OSIRIS-REx is the first NASA mission to collect and return a sample from an asteroid close to Earth. OSIRIS-APEX will not collect a sample, but when it arrives at Apophis, it will study the asteroid for 18 months and collect data along the way. He will also do a maneuver similar to the one he did while collecting samples in Bennu, approaching the surface and firing his launchers. This event will expose the asteroid’s subsoil, to allow the mission scientists to learn more about the asteroid’s material properties. Scientists also want to investigate how the asteroid will be naturally affected by Earth’s gravitational pull during its near-2029 approach. This image shows NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landing on the Bennu asteroid to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface. Credit: NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona They also want to know more about the composition of the asteroid. The Apophis is about the same size as the Bennu – almost 1000 feet for the most part – but differs in what is called its spectral type. Bennu is a type B asteroid associated with carbon chondrite meteorites, while Apophis is a type S asteroid associated with common chondrite meteorites. “The OSIRIS-REx mission has already achieved so many pioneers and I’m proud to continue to teach us about the origins of our solar system,” said Robert C. Robbins, president of the University of Arizona. “The expansion of the OSIRIS-APEX mission keeps the University of Arizona at the forefront of one of the world ‘s leading institutions for the study of small bodies by spacecraft and demonstrates once again our incredible ability in space science.” DellaGiustina is also excited that the mission provides an excellent opportunity for scientists starting their careers to gain professional development. OSIRIS-REx veterans will work closely with these ancient scientists as mentors in the early phases of the mission. By the time the spacecraft reaches Apophis, the next generation will take the lead in OSIRIS-APEX. “OSIRIS-APEX is a manifestation of a key goal of our mission to enable the next generation of leaders in space exploration. “I could not be more proud of Dani and the APEX team,” said Lauretta. “Dani started working with us in 2005 as an undergraduate student. “Seeing her lead the mission to the asteroid Apophis shows the great educational opportunities at the University of Arizona.”
