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Space & Planetary Science

OSIRIS-REx Has Left Earth For A While

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 8, 2016
Filed under
OSIRIS-REx Has Left Earth For A While

OSIRIS-REx Speeds Toward Asteroid Rendezvous (Watch the replay of the launch)
“The OSIRIS-REx mission will be the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth and the largest sample returned from space since the Apollo era.”
United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft for NASA
“A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft for NASA lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 Sept. 8 at 7:05 p.m. EDT.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

7 responses to “OSIRIS-REx Has Left Earth For A While”

  1. Bob Mahoney says:
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    I admit there are more serious matters troubling the world but…

    …a rocket with one solid rocket booster strapped to its side is…wrong.

    • Bernardo de la Paz says:
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      Why? It seems to have worked just fine.
      On the other hand, I admit that although during the development of Atlas V, I was (and remain) a vehement critic of US taxpayer money being spent on engines procured from Russia, it has established an untouchable record of reliability in an industry otherwise notable for being extremely high risk.

      • Bob Mahoney says:
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        ‘Working’ has nothing to do with my observation. Of course it worked just fine.

        Call it ‘engineering aesthetics’ if you will… One booster hanging off the side like that…just isn’t right.

        • Skinny_Lu says:
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          I get your point. It is asymmetrical so it offends our expectations of a sleek and “balanced” rocket. I believe the SRB nozzle is canted outward, so the thrust vector is closer to the centerline. Of course the RD-180 moves its nozzles to steer the vehicle. It has more than enough control authority to overcome any inbalance from the SRBs. Atlas V is certainly the best rocket we have. This is where you find out where the extra $$$ we paid ULA went (reliability, near perfect record with no mission losses) I say, keep buying them RD-180 for as long as we can get them. & this is from No 1 Space X fan… =)

      • fcrary says:
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        The complaint wasn’t about using solid rocket boosters or the Atlas V in general. It was about using a core and _one_ booster on the side. I’m agree; that just feels wrong.

        I don’t like what it does to the center of mass relative to the engines position. Stable flight would require gimbaling the engines (in a way which reduces efficiency) and those gimbal angles would have to change in flight, as fuel was consumed and the center of mass shifted.

        Of course those are solvable problems and, as you said, it works. But it creates engineering problems which could be avoided by using two, smaller boosters. On the other hand, that would involve having two different booster sizes, which complicates things in different ways. Let’s just say using one booster is a viable but not an elegant solution.

    • Jeff Havens says:
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      Oh, I dunno. When I watched, it reminded me of a shuttle launch, with the solid playing the part of the shuttle and Atlas playing the part of the SRB/ET stack.

  2. GregB says:
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    I have some questions about some of the terminology that is used during the Atlas V launch commentary. I’ve heard the terms body rate, signatures, and oxidizer rich used by the launch commentator during Atlas V launches. I wonder what the terms body rate and signatures refers to. I also wonder if there is any significance to a booster running oxidizer rich.