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OSIRIS-REx's Two Spectrometers

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OSIRIS- REx has two spectrometers

onboard. One is the visible and near

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infrared spectrometer OVIRS and the

other is the further infrared

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spectrometer OTES.

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OVIRS is

specifically looking at the reflected

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sunlight in the visible wavelength

region. So basically, we can see which

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minerals are absorbing the sunlight and

it extends a little bit into the thermal

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Infrared, which is the heat signature

coming off the surface.

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OTES

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is farther in the infrared, well beyond

where your eye can see and it's more

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sensitive to the thermal signature of

the surface. Using that you can look for

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minerals, but you can also look to see

how the different grains on the surface

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hold heat and then later release them

and this tells us a lot about the

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surface structure as well as the

composition. So combined these two

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spectrometers are an incredibly powerful

suite of being able to sense the

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temperatures and composition at the same

time on the surface.