Feb 04, 2019

The spacecraft continues to orbit Bennu at an altitude ranging from 1.6 to 2.1 km. As of today, the spacecraft has been orbiting the asteroid for 32 days and is in the midst of completing its 12th orbit. It is notable that the team has been able to waive all of the weekly opportunities to trim the orbit since insertion on Dec. 31. The fact that the orbit has not needed adjustment is reflective of the flight dynamics high fidelity modeling and the excellent maneuver performance of the spacecraft.

On the ground, mission leadership has given the go-ahead to proceed to the next mission phase as scheduled. Detailed Survey: Baseball Diamond phase will commence with a small spacecraft maneuver on Feb. 28. This transition marks the end of the Navigation Campaign and the beginning of the Site Selection Campaign. The primary objective of the SSC is to globally map Bennu to identify two potential sample sites for detailed characterization.