Apr 06, 2020

This week, OSIRIS-REx entered the TAG Rehearsal mission phase. Over the next three weeks, the navigation team will determine whether any phasing burns need to be performed to properly position the spacecraft for the Orbit Departure Maneuver in advance of Checkpoint Rehearsal, which will take place on Apr. 14. Due to good agreement between the predicted and realized spacecraft position, the team has decided to waive the two trim maneuvers (TR1T3 and TR1T4) that were originally scheduled for this week.

The mission team also determined that it is not necessary to repeat the 620-meter Recon B flyover of backup sample site Osprey. Instead, they will fly a modified version of the originally scheduled 250-meter Recon C flyover for site Osprey in May.

Rock counting is now complete for site Nightingale. Using image data from the Recon C flyover, the team identified approximately 8,100 particles at the site that are smaller than 2 cm wide, and the smallest counted particles are around 0.4 cm wide. Additionally, nearly half the total area of the site contains material that cannot be resolved with Recon C imagery, potentially indicating the presence of particles smaller than 2 cm. This indicates that Nightingale contains sufficient material that is small enough for the spacecraft’s sample collection mechanism to ingest.