[meteorite-list] University of Arizona Cameras Give Sight to NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2015 23:07:26 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201508310607.t7V67QCl023493_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.asteroidmission.org/?post_type=latest-news&p=619

University of Arizona Cameras Give Sight to NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission
August 24, 2015

>From over two million kilometers away, a powerful camera on NASA's Origins,
Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer
(OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will "see" the tiny asteroid Bennu for the first
time, helping to guide the spacecraft to its destination. Once there,
its versatile focus mechanism will transform the camera from a telescope
to a microscope, enabling it to examine tiny rocks while only hundreds
of meters from the asteroid's surface.

UA's completed camera suite, OCAMS, sits on a test bench that mimics its
arrangement on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The three cameras that compose
the instrument are the eyes of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. They will map
the asteroid Bennu, help choose a sample site, and ensure that the sample
is correctly stowed on the spacecraft. Credit: University of Arizona/Symeon
Platts

UA's completed camera suite, OCAMS, sits on a test bench that mimics its
arrangement on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The three cameras that compose
the instrument are the eyes of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. They will map
the asteroid Bennu, help choose a sample site, and ensure that the sample
is correctly stowed on the spacecraft. Credit: University of Arizona/Symeon
Platts

This camera, called PolyCam, is part of an innovative suite of three cameras
designed and built by the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory (LPL). Together, these cameras will enable the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid
Sample Return mission to map the asteroid Bennu, choose a sample site,
and ensure that the sample is correctly stowed on the spacecraft. The
University of Arizona delivered the OSIRIS-REx CAMera Suite (OCAMS) instrument
to Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado, today for integration
onto the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

"The OCAMS instrument's three cameras, PolyCam, MapCam and SamCam, will
be our mission's eyes at Bennu," said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator
for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona. "OCAMS will provide the imagery
we need to complete our mission while the spacecraft is at the asteroid."

The largest of the three cameras, PolyCam, is small telescope that will
acquire the first images of Bennu from two million kilometers distance
and provide high resolution imaging of the sample site. MapCam will search
for satellites and outgassing plumes around Bennu, map the asteroid in
color, and provide images to construct topographic maps. SamCam will document
the sample acquisition event and the collected sample.

"The most important goal of these cameras is to maximize our ability to
successfully return a sample," said OCAMS instrument scientist Bashar
Rizk. "Our mission requires a lot of activities during one trip - navigation,
mapping, reconnaissance, sample site selection, and sampling. While we
are there, we need the ability to continuously see what is happening around
the asteroid in order to make real-time decisions."

The OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to launch in September 2016 to study
Bennu, a near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroid. After rendezvousing
with Bennu in 2018, the spacecraft will survey the asteroid, obtain a
sample, and return it to Earth.

OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, and will return
the largest sample from space since the Apollo lunar missions. Scientists
expect that Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and
the source of water and organic molecules that may have seeded life on
Earth. Bennu also has a relatively high probability of impacting the Earth
late in the 22nd century. OSIRIS-REx's investigation will inform future
efforts to develop a mission to mitigate an impact, should one be required.

"This is another major step in preparing for our mission," said Mike Donnelly,
OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland. "With the delivery of OCAMS to the spacecraft contractor, we
will have our full complement of cameras and spectrometers,"

While SamCam and MapCam were made exclusively by LPL, PolyCam's optics
and structure were made through a joint program between LPL and the University
of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences. PolyCam's unique focus mechanism
is also the basis of LPL's first patent application.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland provides overall
mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance
for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta is the mission's principal investigator
at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in
Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in
NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate
in Washington.
Received on Mon 31 Aug 2015 02:07:26 AM PDT