Engineering topics
Eric Queen
Publications and source records attributed to Eric Queen.
Entry, Descent, and Landing Analysis for the OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) sample return capsule (SRC) returned to Earth on September 24, 2023, safely landing in the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). To ensure a safe and successful landing, a pair of high-fidelity EDL simulations, based on the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories (POST) architecture, were used to regularly assess the latest orbit determination (OD) solution from the navigation team, making predictions on Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) performance and SRC landing location. The results from these analyses fed into the decision processes for the final trajectory correction maneuvers (TCM’s) and SRC release. The models and methods of analysis will be discussed and a comparison of the final pre-entry landing prediction against the observed landing location will be presented along with an assessment of the best estimates of day-of-entry environmental conditions.
OSIRIS-REx Flight Mechanics and Entry, Descent, and Landing Performance
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OSIRIS-REx Entry, Descent, and Landing Performance
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) was the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program. OSIRIS-REx launched out of Cape Canaveral, Florida on September 8, 2016, with a science goal to return a minimum of 60 g of a primitive asteroid’s surface, specifically the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The sample return capsule (SRC) successfully touched down at UTTR on the morning of September 24, 2023. The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence had an off-nominal deployment of the parachute, but the spacecraft safely landed within the pre-flight prediction of the landing ellipse and the payload was safely recovered. This paper discusses the pre-flight EDL modeling and simulation and focus on predictions for EDL operations. Flight observations such as timeline are compared to the predicted timeline produced by the EDL simulation.