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OSIRIS-REx Off-Nominal Re-entry Breakup AnalysisThe Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is a NASA asteroid sampling mission that launched on September 8, 2016. Its objectives are to study the asteroid Bennu for up to 505 days and obtain at least 60 grams of pristine regolith. The sample return to Earth is planned for September 2023. For contingency planning and risk assessment of a potential off-nominal Earth-return trajectory, a re-entry breakup analysis was performed to determine the response of the spacecraft to the environment and predict the breakup sequence and timeline, debris survival, and debris impact conditions. The failure scenario assumed a failure to separate between the bus and the sample return capsule (SRC), resulting in the combined bus+SRC configuration for the re-entry vehicle. Furthermore, consistent overburns or underburns were considered to produce three sets of initial conditions for the analysis consisting of nominal, steep, and shallow entry flight path angles. The results were compared to the breakup analysis performed for a similar vehicle, the Stardust spacecraft, which returned samples from the comet Wild 2 in 2006. This paper describes the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and presents the results of the re-entry breakup analysis.
Document ID
20210025654
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Lisa Ling
(Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas, United States)
Date Acquired
December 8, 2021
Subject Category
Space Transportation And Safety
Meeting Information
Meeting: 44th Annual AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference
Location: Breckenridge, CO
Country: US
Start Date: February 3, 2022
End Date: February 9, 2022
Sponsors: American Astronautical Society
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 401769.06.01.02.12
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
reentry breakup analysis
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