Dec 16, 2019

On Dec. 12, the OSIRIS-REx team announced that they will collect a sample from site Nightingale. Since the spacecraft can perform multiple sampling attempts, the team selected Osprey as a backup site in case a follow-on attempt at Nightingale isn’t possible.

This week, OSIRS-REx continued Orbital R phase operations. The spacecraft remains in a stable terminator orbit, and has completed approximately 28 orbits since entering its current orbital phase.

Calibrations for both NavCam2 and StowCam executed this week. NavCam1 continues to collect images for particle monitoring.

Dec. 3 marked one year since arriving at asteroid Bennu. Since arrival, the team has studied and mapped Bennu in great detail in order to document the asteroid’s composition, surface, and activity.