Apr 23, 2018

This week the mission received good news regarding the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) outgassing mitigation campaign that was implemented last fall to remove excess water from the SRC.  Over the last few months, the spacecraft has been placed into various positions to expose different sides of the capsule to the Sun in order to bake the moisture out.  After completing the analysis of the various maneuvers, the navigation team this week confirmed that there is no longer detection of outgassing at a level that could interfere with the spacecraft’s navigation requirements during Bennu proximity operations.