For the first time ever, the School of Earth and Space Exploration will assemble its own space-grade device intended for use on an upcoming NASA mission.
The device under development is called the OSIRIS Thermal Emission Spectrometer, or OTES. OTES will be responsible for capturing roughly 2 ounces of dust, soil and debris from a designated area of an asteroid. Though the design stage for OTES has been completed, the construction of the device will not begin for some months.
OTES will eventually be built in the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 4, which is under construction on the Tempe campus. The device will be on display for viewing as construction progresses on OTES.
“In the past, instruments we’ve designed for NASA were built at an aerospace company in California,” project supervisor Philip Christensen said. “This device represents the first ever piece of space-grade technology to be constructed solely on an ASU campus.”
After completion, the device will be put aboard a special spacecraft for use in NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. The mission’s goal is to secure rock and soil samples from a large asteroid designated as 1999 RQ36. If successful, it will be the first space mission ever to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth.
Prior to OTES, concepts for previous flight instruments utilized by NASA in space missions had been helmed at ASU, though never actually constructed on campus.
“We’ve worked hard over the years to create the infrastructure at ASU necessary to support such an endeavor,” OTES Project Engineer Greg Mehall said.
The device will be constructed on the first floor of the ISTB-4 building in an area designed for public viewing through high-bay windows, SESE Director Kip Hodges said. These viewing portals will be meant to encourage large numbers of interested observers to visit the lab and check on the progress of OTES.
“It will be fantastic to be able to use this as a teaching tool,” Hodges said.
The OSIRIS-REx mission is set to launch in September 2016. It will rendezvous with asteroid 1999 RQ36 after three years of space travel. The device will analyze long-wavelength infrared light emitted from the asteroid and map out the asteroid’s surface using three visible light cameras.
“The infrared is great for identifying minerals,” Christensen said. “OTES will map the composition of the asteroid in order to identify the best region to sample.”
Reach the reporter at mjgordo1@asu.edu
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