The OSIRIS-APEX ship has overcome the first survival challenge on the way to the "God of Destruction" - the celestial body with the highest ability of colliding with Earth.
OSIRIS-APEX is the new name of the OSIRIS-REx ship. Last September, it successfully dropped a sample of the asteroid Bennu carrying the "seed of life" to Earth, then immediately redirected it in the air for the OSIRIS-APEX mission. towards Apophis - nicknamed "God of Destruction".
According to a new announcement posted by NASA on the homepage, the OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft has just been confirmed to be completely "healthy", and the equipment is still operating normally after a dangerously close approach to the Sun.
This spacecraft has also just sent back to Earth a photo updating its status 6 months after approaching "hell".
The latest photo that OSIRIS-APEX took a few days ago shows a part of the ship's hull, showing that it is still peaceful, the equipment is preserved after 6 months of reaching perihelion - Photo: NASA
The latest photo that OSIRIS-APEX took a few days ago shows a part of the ship's hull, showing that it is still peaceful, the equipment is preserved after 6 months of reaching perihelion - Photo: NASA
The reason NASA is so worried is because initially, this spacecraft was only designed to be suitable for the OSIRIS-REx mission to reach Bennu. However, after the end of this mission, the ship was still usable so NASA took advantage of it.
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The biggest difficulty is that to reach Apophis in 2029, this ship must fly several times around the Sun, at which points the distance becomes too short. Therefore, NASA engineers anticipated the possibility that the heat from our parent star would destroy the ship.
OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft - Graphic image: NASA
OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft - Graphic image: NASA
OSIRIS-APEX entered perihelion for the first time on January 2 in a modified attitude, with the solar arrays repositioned as shields for the most hazardous components. .
However, after 6 months of monitoring the ship and modifying some details, NASA scientists dared to that it was completely safe, confirming capable of passing a few more perihelion passes - about 9 months each time.
Regarding its target, the "God of Destruction" Apophis is the asteroid that tops the list of most dangerous objects for the earth by both NASA and ESA (European Space Agency).
It also causes concern when it was predicted to have a high probability of colliding with Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.
Currently, although new calculations show that the Earth will escape in 2029, Apophis is still a highly threatening object that will return many more times. It is also a primitive asteroid, potentially harboring "seeds of life" like Bennu.
For all those reasons, NASA decided to invest in a mission to reach this "God of Destruction".
Along with previous data from Bennu, the OSIRIS-APEX mission is expected to help humanity understand more about celestial bodies that pose a danger to Earth, thereby designing reasonable planetary defense missions in the future.
