American spacecraft OSIRIS-REx successfully moved closer to the asteroid Bennu for a distance of 40 meters and checked operation of all systems prior to operation soil sampling.
On October 20 of this year a probe belonging to NASA’s OSIRIS-REx planning to land in the “Nightingale” of the asteroid Bennu to collect soil samples and send them to the Ground.
“during the rehearsal, we checked the work of many important systems ranging from communication systems, and engines, and ending with navigation algorithms and maps of danger. Test successful: it confirmed that we are, and OSIRIS-REx ready to soil sampling in October of this year,” according to NASA.
In the process of rehearsal, which details repeated the whole process of landing on Bennu, the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx got close to the asteroid in a fully automatic mode. However, he dropped to a height of 40 meters from the surface of a celestial body and performed a series of maneuvers which are necessary for the collection of soil and takeoff from the asteroid. In particular, the unit has successfully launched the manipulator TAGSAM, which will take the soil from the surface of Bennu.
Also OSIRIS-REx tested scientific tools and offline navigation system, which will help him to avoid collisions with boulders on the asteroid’s surface. All instruments and probe system worked normally. NASA hopes that the actual landing on the surface of Bennu will pass just as smoothly. The probe was launched into space in September 2016 in the framework of the mission on convergence and collecting samples from the surface of asteroid Bennu (1999 RQ36).
