OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft and Instrument Animations

  • Released Wednesday, August 17, 2016
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OSIRIS-REx is a solar-powered spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The spacecraft bus measures 3.2 meters high by 2.4 meters wide (about 10x8 feet). With its solar arrays deployed, the spacecraft spans 6.2 meters in length (over 20 feet). A high-gain antenna on the sun-pointed side of OSIRIS-REx enables communication with Earth. On the opposite side is the TAGSAM, a 3.4-meter-long, folding arm that will reach out and grab a sample of the mission's target, near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft with push into Instrument deck.

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft with push onto Instrument deck. This movie has an alpha channel

Loop-able animation of the OSIRIS_REx spacecraft.

Loop-able animation of the OSIRIS_REx spacecraft.

This animation has an alpha channel.



Before collecting the sample, OSIRIS-REx will spend over a year orbiting and studying Bennu with a suite of remote sensing instruments, located on the spacecraft's main instrument deck. These include the OCAMS camera suite for spectral imaging, mapping, and navigation; the OLA laser altimeter for measuring elevation; the OTES thermal emission spectrometer for infrared mapping; the OVIRS visible and infrared spectrometer for detecting organic compounds; and the student-built REXIS X-ray spectrometer for detecting individual atomic elements.

Mission planners will use this suite of instruments to determine the best location on Bennu for collecting the sample, which OSIRIS-REx will return to Earth in 2023.


REXIS Instrument on OSIRIS-REx.

OVIRS Instrument on OSIRIS-REx.

OTES Instrument on OSIRIS-REx.

OCAMS Instrument on OSIRIS-REx.

OLA Instrument on OSIRIS-REx.

Credits

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

This page was originally published on Wednesday, August 17, 2016.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:48 PM EDT.

Missions

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