NASA’s OSIRIS-REx is ready for touchdown on asteroid Bennu. On Aug. 11, the mission will perform its “Matchpoint” rehearsal – the second practice run of the Touch-and-Go (TAG) sample collection event. The rehearsal will be similar to the Apr. 14 “Checkpoint” rehearsal, which practiced the first two maneuvers of the descent, but this time the spacecraft will add a third maneuver, called the Matchpoint burn, and fly even closer to sample site Nightingale – reaching an altitude of approximately 131 ft (40 m) – before backing away from the asteroid.
This artist’s rendering shows OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface.
Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
Last Updated: Aug. 10, 2020Editor: Yvette Smith
The 16 Psyche mission in a few years has my interest. That will be the real gold mine that starts a robotic Gold Rush like we haven’t seen since 1849.
Mission Timeline:
Launch: 2022
Solar electric cruise: 3.5 years
Arrival at (16) Psyche: 2026
Observation Period: 21 months in orbit, mapping and studying Psyche’s properties
Mission Events
2022 – Launch of Psyche spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center, Florida
2023 – Mars Flyby of Psyche spacecraft
2026 – Psyche spacecraft arrives in asteroid’s orbit
2026-2027 – Psyche spacecraft orbits the Psyche asteroid
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/psyche/
Imagine a cubic kilometer of pure core metal cut from this asteroid and eliver to GEO.
Nickel 60%
Iron 25%
Chrome 5 %
Silver 2%
Vanadium 2%
Molybdenum 2%
Copper 2%
Titanium 1%
Everything else 1%
De-orbit/Drop 6 tonne cut-blocks of that into the shallow Bay of Carpentaria for recovery by robotic divers and barges.
No more mining on Earth for those minerals.
The Greenies will attempt put a stop to it.
Yep, will need an environmental permit.
The cost of the mission will exceed the value of the metal.
What doesn’t vaporize during re-entry will be vaporized by the collision with the earth.
The value of such metals exists in orbit, not because the metals themselves are valuable, but because lifting anything from the earth costs a lot.
Another point is that even if you could get the cube down intact, adding that much material to the world’s economies will suppress the value of those materials.
Look on the bright side it would offset the 55000000Kg the Earth currently loses per year and if your a greentard there is no price too high to keep earth exactly stable.
No need to de-orbit it. Use it in orbit for construction.
OSIRIS-REx is expected to bring back just 2 ounces of the asteroid. Must be the most expensive material in the Universe.
But it is truly awesome what they are doing. I suspect the spices brought back from the East Indies in the 1400s were viewed the same way but exploration is part of the human condition.
The sale of spices from Vasco da Gama’s trip to the east Indies brought in 5 times the cost of the expedition, Spice trade was primary, exploration secondary.
Information is always valuable.
Hopefully that won’t be because some space alien bacteria has wiped out the planet.
On a related note…
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/aug/10/planet-ceres-ocean-world-sea-water-beneath-surface
You keep telling us to stop reading The Guardian.
With that artists rendering and a chunk of basalt I could scam this deal. Wait for me on Pawn Stars.
Don’t we have to match speed and vectors with that of earth before we can drop it? It could
take centuries to slow down or speed up and redirect it to match orbit of earth. It might be
Cheaper to mine the oceans. At least they’re nearby.
That’s a great math problem. Might be better to cut it into small blocks and send each one back separately. It’s like towing an iceberg to a location or breaking it up where it is, load the parts of ice on a boat and getting them there much faster. In any case, it is a long distance from there to here.
Or they could send the blocks via railgun.
Just remember to keep on the good side of those who are managing said railgun…
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
“Don’t we have to match speed and vectors with that of earth”
No. Actually, the more energy the better. You just have to pick an appropriate point for a high energy landing.
My suggestion would be Washington DC.
I am sure others here can offer up additional useful drop areas.
Midway between Portland and Seattle.
Manufacture the asteroid once in GEO to LEO, into a flatter 500 ton wing shape, make a crude one time heat shield out of some of the asteroid materials to absorb some of the initial heat of re-entry and ‘glide’ the 500 tons of nickel/iron/metals to a successful crash landing site, probably in shallow water somewhere. Will glide like a lead ballon, but it will arrive intact and will supply a lot of metal if even one a day arrives. Recover and process as per normal refining methods. Once we can robotically harvest these space based metal resources, we will have a near infinite supply of the metals we will require for centuries to come and most mining on the good Earth will no longer be necessary. There is no shortage of raw materials and energy in our own ‘back yard’ once we can master space with robots, which in a 100 years will be common. The future is so bright, we gonna have to wear shades.
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a good choice. 5-6 tonne blocks cut by robots from a large piece in the rough shape of a blunt teardrop with a phenolic cap placed on the nose to limit metal loses.
Precision radars and cinetheodolite lidars could track each one’s precise impact location in a 10 km x 40 km recovery box, and then robotic barges and cranes with scoops would lift them off the shallow sea floor to bring them ashore.
Joel O’Bryan
August 11, 2020 at 2:00 pm
Sounds like a good plan but the Greens will never wear it…think of the fish! Hang on…they don’t seem to be too concerned about bird choppers do they!
Hmm, couldn’t find any news, even from the NASA site, about this “rehearsal” supposedly done yesterday. I guess NASA is more focused on their muslim-outreach program.
https://www.asteroidmission.org/latest-news/
OK, finally got on the news:
https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=a-successful-second-rehearsal-puts-nasas-osiris-rex-on-a-path-to-sample-collection