21 Oct 2016

“Engines on, Bennu here we come!” The NASA OSIRIS-REx mission currently on course for asteroid Bennu where it will pick up surface samples to bring home, completed the first of a series of planned trajectory correction manoeuvres on 7 October: once the engines were fired up, the probe accelerated by 1.7 km per hour in just a few seconds, using an equivalent of 5 kg of fuel.
The trajectory “correction”, originally included as an emergency measure, was actually a rehearsal: the Atlas V flight that launched the mission on 8 September went off without a hitch, and last Friday's move was just a test for future manoeuvres to adjust trajectory and move closer to the target. 11 kg of fuel were allocated to change the cruise speed to a maximum of 41 km per hour.

Given that the correction was not essential, the fuel saved will go towards future operations when approaching the asteroid. While awaiting the next manoeuvres in December, when OSIRIS-REx will exploit the Earth's gravitational pull for an extra push towards Bennu, the cruise continues...at full speed.