Daily updates
NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX safe After Searing Pass of Sun
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Engineers of NASA's osiris-Apex spacecraft given details about Osiris spacecraft after passed sun in close point in its path about its now situation and ists future plans and more
osiris-Apex spacecraft credit: NASA
Engineers of NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft were confident about its closest ever pass of the Sun on Jan. 2, 2024.
Their models had predicted that, despite traveling 25 million miles closer to the heat of the Sun than it was originally designed to, OSIRIS-APEX and its components would remain safe.
The mission team confirmed that the spacecraft indeed had come out of the experience unscathed after downloading stored telemetry data in mid-March. The team also tested OSIRIS-APEX’s instruments in early April, once the spacecraft was far enough from the Sun to return to normal operations. Between December 2023 and March, OSIRIS-APEX was inactive, with only limited telemetry data available to the team on Earth.
Engineers of OSIRIS-APEX placed it in a fixed orientation with respect to the Sun and repositioned one of its two solar arrays to shade the spacecraft’s most sensitive components during the pass.
Now spacecraft is in elliptical orbit around sun. For every nine months it will get closer to sun.To get on a path that will allow it for future missions (apophis 2029)
In January space craft went to near point of sun in its assigned path as engineering expected safely crossed that point.beside of it engineers found surprises while testing spacecraft components. A couple of instruments came out better than expected after exposure to higher temperatures
Since April 13 2023 in recent test engineers observed 70% reduction in hot pixes in cameras, which are commonly used in space,hots pixes shown up white spots in image it is because of exposure or detective to high radiation of sun
OSIRIS-APEX needs to execute five more exceptionally close passes of the Sun — along with three Earth gravity assists — to get to its destination.
The second OSIRIS-APEX perihelion is scheduled for Sept. 1, 2024. The spacecraft will be 46.5 million miles away from the Sun, which is roughly half the distance between Earth and the Sun, and well inside the orbit of Venus.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comments
Post a Comment