Oct 07, 2019

This week, after successfully executing the rescheduled Flyby 2 of Detailed Survey: Baseball Diamond phase on September 26, OSIRIS-REx transitioned to making high reconnaissance passes over the four potential sample collection sites.

On October 3, the spacecraft performed the initial navigation maneuver, M1R, for its first high-altitude flyover of the Reconnaissance A mission phase. This maneuver placed the spacecraft on a trajectory with closest approach approximately 1 km from Bennu’s surface to make detailed observations of candidate sample site Sandpiper on October 5.

The OSIRIS-REx team also confirmed that another major particle ejection event occurred on September 14, identifying 25 to 30 particles in images taken that day.