The NASA mission – designed, built and flown
by Lockheed Martin – aims to uncover new learnings about the
building blocks of life in our solar system
UTAH TEST AND TRAINING RANGE, Utah, Sept. 24,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a rapid and red-hot
descent through Earth's atmosphere, NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample return
capsule touched down in the desert at 8:52
a.m. MT today, returning NASA's first-ever asteroid sample.
The capsule is estimated to hold about a cup of material from
Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid. Scientists hope it will teach us
more about the origin of organics that led to life on Earth and
help us better understand planet formation.
Just prior to landing, the capsule entered the atmosphere
traveling more than 27,000 mph. It then gently landed in the sands
of the U.S. government's Utah Test and Training Range.
A specialized recovery team led by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] –
who designed, built and currently flies the mission for NASA –
comprising representatives from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
NASA Johnson Space Center, the University of
Arizona, then secured the capsule.
"The landing was safe, recovery was a huge success, and we're
thrilled that the next phase of this mission can now begin," said
Kyle Griffin, vice president and
general manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin. "This
particular sample return is monumental – scientists are about to
open a time capsule with some of the earliest history of our solar
system inside."
After approaching the capsule landing area in helicopters, the
recovery team carefully searched for any hazardous material,
sampled the neighboring soil, wrapped the 100-lb capsule in
protective material, and attached it for transport with via
helicopter to an on-site cleanroom at the range. There, the sample
is being processed for shipment on a military aircraft to curation
team members at NASA Johnson in Houston,
Texas, who will make it available for study.
In total, about 60 people from NASA, the University of Arizona, Lockheed Martin and range
personnel took part in the capsule landing and recovery efforts,
plus a team of about 25 engineers operating the spacecraft from
Lockheed Martin's Mission Support Area in Denver.
Advanced Exploration Technology Testbed
The OSIRIS-REx
mission pioneered key technologies relevant to the future
exploration of small bodies in our solar system, beyond its
immediate follow-on mission. They include:
- Specific techniques for operating in microgravity
- Autonomous guidance to the surface of a small body with Natural
Feature Tracking
- Unique sample collection from an asteroid, with the Lockheed
Martin-invented, reverse-vacuum Touch and Go sample Acquisition
Mechanism (TAGSAM) device
Next Stop: Apophis
Following today's successful
landing and showcase of key technologies, OSIRIS-REx will now be
dubbed OSIRIS-APEX and enter its extended mission phase, beginning
its journey to its follow-on mission target: near-Earth asteroid
Apophis.
To date, OSIRIS-REx's major mission milestones include:
- Launching on Sept. 8, 2016, from
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
- Arriving at Bennu on Dec. 3,
2018, where it conducted a two-year detailed survey of the
asteroid.
- Extracting a sample from the asteroid by "tagging" it on
Oct. 20, 2020.
- Departing the asteroid to head back to Earth on May 10, 2021.
Background and Resources
Including OSIRIS-REx,
Lockheed Martin has bult more interplanetary spacecraft than all
other U.S. companies combined and has partnered with NASA to
explore every planet in our solar system. The company is excited to
continue its legacy of supporting every NASA robotic sample return
mission to date with its upcoming work on the agency's Mars Sample
Return program.
More Lockheed Martin OSIRIS-REx resources include:
- Lockheed Martin's OSIRIS-REx webpage
- Photos of OSIRIS-REx
- OSIRIS-REx sample return video
About the OSIRIS-REx Mission
NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems
engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx.
The University of Arizona leads the
science team and the mission's science observation planning and
data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and
provides flight operations.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin
Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs
approximately 116,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged
in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and
sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and
services.
Please follow @LMNews on X for the latest announcements and
news across the corporation.
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SOURCE Lockheed Martin