Jul 01, 2019

OSIRIS-REx completed its second full week of Orbital B phase. The team executed maneuvers M4B and M5B last week, which were the first Orbital B trim burn maneuvers. During the transfer from M4B to M5B, the team used the Low Thrust Reaction Engine Assembly (LTR) thrusters to place the spacecraft within 460 meters of Bennu’s surface. This is the closest OSIRIS-REx has ever been to Bennu.

Particle imaging also concluded this week, and the team will now turn on most of the spacecraft’s onboard instruments for collecting science data. Starting next week, the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) will produce a full terrain map; PolyCam will obtain context imagery of various surface geologies; the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) and the REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) will produce global maps in the infrared and X-ray bands.