A research spacecraft with Colorado fingerprints all over it successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida Thursday evening, starting a seven-year, 4.4 billion mile mission to chase down and study an asteroid named Bennu. OSIRIS-REx lifted off on schedule at 5:05 p.m. local time, heading to an August 2018 appointment with one of the largest and closest asteroids to Earth. Engineers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton designed and built the spacecraft for NASA, and the Atlas V rocket that took it into space with 1.2 million pounds of thrust came from the United Launch Alliance, based in Centennial. After the launch, Lockheed Martin will have command and control of the craft. Related ArticlesSeptember 8, 2016 Lockheed Martin-built OSIRIS-REx now on its way to distant asteroid September 7, 2016 Colorado-built spacecraft OSIRIS-REx stalking Bennu asteroid for brief encounter May 23, 2016 OSIRIS-REx, the made-in-Colorado asteroid miner, delivered to Kennedy Space Center Dan Scheeres, a University of Colorado aerospace professor, is leading the mission’s radio-science team, which will use Deep Space Network, an array of large antennas and ground stations around the globe, to measure the craft’s speed and help it reach its intended target. Once at Bennu, Scheeres and his team will also conduct a study of the asteroid’s composition and weight, participating with a larger team of scientists working under University of Arizona investigator Dante Lauretta. All of that study will prepare for the core mission.
Colorado-conceived Osiris-rex Starts Its 7-year Space Journey
Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post: Business
Thu, 09/08/2016 - 6:31pm
Topics: florida thursday engineers lockheed martin space systems littleton nasa atlas v united launch alliance centennial related articlesseptember lockheed martin-built osiris-rex colorado-built kennedy space center dan scheeres space network arizona lauretta earth colorado bennu osiris-rex lockheed martin all september university asteroid team study mission craft carbon-rich scientists asteroids material
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