ASU-Built Space Instrument Part Of NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft

By Andrew Bernier
Published: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 - 8:31am
Updated: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 - 12:07pm
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(Photo by Andrew Bernier - KJZZ)
Inside the OTES (attached to the tan triangular stand) Lab at ASU.
(Photo By Andrew Bernier - KJZZ)
Above the OTES platform.

NASA spacecraft often carry several instruments to collect different types of data and samples. One instrument on an upcoming mission will set a milestone for Arizona State University.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will perform multiple tests and collect a pristine sample of Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid. Understanding Bennu’s surface can give us a better idea on the origins of planets and how carbon is a vital element to life.

On the craft is the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer, or OTES. The OTES, which is about the size of a microwave, absorbs spectral data and is the first instrument entirely designed and developed at ASU.

“So with our instrument we’re going to study this asteroid," said Greg Mehall, an engineer on the project.

"We’re going to look at it in the infrared, understand the geologic makeup of the surface, understand it’s thermal-physical properties and collect a sample from Bennu. So, 2021 or 2020, somewhere in there we’re going to bring the sample back to Earth," Mehall said.

ASU will send OTES to aerospace company Lockheed Martin in Denver on Thursday, where it will be mounted onto OSIRIS-REx. Collecting a last set of test data, researcher Dan Pelham said it’s ready to go.

“As it’s configured right now, we are making no changes, other than taking it off this fixture you see that it’s on," said Pelham. "We’ll put it in it’s shipping container and deliver it to Lockheed. We’ll take it out of the shipping container, do a bench test, make sure it works OK and survived the transportation. And then after than it’s simply a matter of putting it on the spacecraft.”

OSIRIS-REx is set to launch September 2016.

Science