Today's weather briefing predicts dry weather and light winds for September 24. For NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample recovery team, these were ideal conditions: Wet and windy weather would make rapid recovery of the capsule from the desert ground at the U.S. Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range difficult.
A recovery team participates in a field exercise at the U.S. Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range in preparation for recovering a sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. In October 2020, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected samples from the asteroid Bennu and will return to Earth on September 24, landing via parachute at the Utah Test and Training Site. Image credit: NASA/KeeganBarber
The OSIRIS-REx team will continue to monitor the weather through balloons on Sunday. The first balloon will be released at 5 a.m. ET (3 a.m. CT). The balloon will fly to about 60,000 feet above the military range to measure local temperature, humidity, air pressure and wind.
Monday, July 17, 2023, at the U.S. Department of Defense Utah Test and Training Range. Source: NASA/Keegan-Barber
This morning, team members packed their field supplies and loaded their gear onto the helicopter and vehicle where they will travel to the capsule's landing site on Sunday morning.
NASA's live broadcast of the OSIRIS-REx capsule landing will begin at 10 a.m. ET (8 a.m. CT) on Sunday, September 24, and will be available on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the NASA website.
OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first asteroid sample return mission. It was launched in September 2016 and embarked on a journey to explore a near-Earth asteroid called "Bennu". On September 24, 2023, the space capsule containing the Bennu samples will land in the western desert of Utah. This will be the exciting finale of this mission. Source: NASA
On Sunday, September 24, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere for the first time since its launch in 2016. It carries an important 250-gram sample from the asteroid Bennu collected in 2020. The spacecraft will release the sample capsule from about one-third of the way to the moon without slowing down. After release, OSIRIS-REx will head toward the asteroid Apophis, giving it a new mission name: OSIRIS-APEX.
This image shows the events that occurred between the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's release of the sample capsule and its landing in the Utah desert. Image source: Lockheed Martin
The sample capsule will fly in space for four hours before entering the Earth's atmosphere at an astonishing speed of 27,650 miles per hour, which will cause the sample capsule to be enveloped in high temperatures. Thermal boxes allow samples to be protected at temperatures similar to Bennu. The capsule's descent will be controlled by a two-stage parachute system: first a vertical parachute, then a main parachute, ensuring that the capsule will slowly land on the military range at approximately 11 miles per hour. Just 13 minutes after entering the atmosphere, the capsule will complete its seven-year voyage and patiently await the arrival of the recovery team.
The recovery team will board the helicopter about 20 minutes before landing and use heat tracking technology to determine where the capsule will descend. Their goal is to recover the capsule quickly and minimize contact with the Earth's environment. After recovery, the capsule will be transported to a clean room at a military range for preliminary processing. It will then be flown to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Here, samples will be recorded, preserved, and shared with scientists around the world for in-depth analysis.