OSIRIS-REx Earth Gravity Assist

Released Friday, September 22, 2017

ID: 20251

- Visualizations by:
- Michael Lentz

When OSIRIS-REx flies by Earth on September 22, 2017, it will use our planet's gravity as a slingshot to catch asteroid Bennu. Complete transcript available.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Music provided by Killer Tracks:
"Origin" by Axel Tenner, Michael Schluecker, and Raphael Schalz

OSIRIS-REx is NASA's mission to explore near-earth asteroid Bennu, collect a sample, and return it to Earth. To get to Bennu, however, OSIRIS-REx must first leave the plane of Earth's orbit and match the orbital tilt of its target. On September 22, 2017, OSIRIS-REx will approach Earth and fly over its southern hemisphere, passing within 11,000 miles of Antarctica. This gravitational slingshot will bend its trajectory by six degrees, sending the spacecraft on a path to intercept Bennu. Shortly after the flyby, OSIRIS-REx will look back at Earth and take images and spectra, ensuring that its instruments are ready for arrival at Bennu in 2018.

Read more about the Earth gravity assist, or visit the NASA and University of Arizona mission websites.

OSIRIS-REx Earth gravity assist, Earth flyby.

OSIRIS-REx Earth gravity assist, slew maneuver.

OSIRIS-REx Earth gravity assist, instrument testing.

OSIRIS-REx Earth gravity assist, after the flyby.

For More Information

See the following sources:

Planets & Moons

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Animators
- Michael Lentz (USRA)
- Krystofer Kim (USRA)
- Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA)
Producer
- Dan Gallagher (USRA)
Principal investigator
- Dante Lauretta (The University of Arizona)
Project scientist
- Jason Dworkin (NASA/GSFC)
Flight dynamics system lead
- Michael Moreau (NASA/GSFC)
Aerospace engineer
- Dolan Highsmith (Aerospace Corp)