APOD: The Launch of OSIRIS-REx (2016 Sep 10)

[APOD Robot]

The Launch of OSIRIS-REx

Explanation: Near sunset on Thursday, clear skies saw the launch of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Sporting a single solid rocket booster, its Atlas V vehicle blasts off from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 in this low, wide-angle view toward launch pad and setting Sun. OSIRIS-REx is bound for Bennu, scheduled to encounter the mountain-sized asteroid in 2018. First the spacecraft will swing back by home world planet Earth though, for a gravity assist maneuver to boost it on its way. After a detailed survey of Bennu OSIRIS-REx will collect a sample from the asteroid's surface in 2020 and bring it home, returning to Earth in 2023. If all goes well it will be the largest sample returned by a space mission since the Apollo era.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

[bystander]

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=262000#p262000

[Redbone]

I wonder how the asymmetric thrust is balanced?

[FLPhotoCatcher]

I wonder how the asymmetric thrust is balanced?

It looks like the rocket nozzle is turned to the side a bit to balance the rocket. In other words, the computer is auto-balancing the rocket, so the nozzle was temporarily swiveled. A video of the launch would prove or disprove my idea.

[neufer]

I wonder how the asymmetric thrust is balanced?

The non-solid rocket motors are direction-ally adjustable such that the total thrust can always be directed toward the center of gravity at any given time for zero torque.

[rstevenson]

I wonder how the asymmetric thrust is balanced?

The non-solid rocket motors are direction-ally adjustable such that the total thrust can always be directed toward the center of gravity at any given time for zero torque.

If you're trying to go straight, zero torque is the goal, of course. But perhaps for this launch they were starting to lean over, to achieve the correct orbital insertion.

Rob

[Very Sirius]

I fail to understand the benefit and opportunity of sending a space robot to pick up samples from an asteroid and bring them back to the Earth for analysis. The Earth is riddled with meteorites and interstellar dust continually. Surely such material reveals evidence of the Earth's history and a prediction of things to happen. Don't go to the asteroids - let them come to you. A kilometer wide asteroid would make a fine display piece in any museum.

[neufer]

I fail to understand the benefit and opportunity of sending a space robot to pick up samples from an asteroid and bring them back to the Earth for analysis. The Earth is riddled with meteorites and interstellar dust continually. Surely such material reveals evidence of the Earth's history and a prediction of things to happen. Don't go to the asteroids - let them come to you.

<<Provenance (from the French provenir, "to come from"), is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object... In geology (specifically, in sedimentary petrology), the term provenance dealt with question where the sediments came from and how they got to the place they are today.>>

[ta152h0]

Darn, first WR104 is pointed at us and now Benu might be aimed at us. Time to buy a Harley Davidson and go riding