Inconsistent labeling of Osiris-Rex’s landing plan was the cause of the parachute’s failure to deploy properly during the return capsule’s descent to Earth on September 24, NASA announced. said With yesterday’s release.
OSIRIS-REx carried samples from the asteroid Bennu to Earth in late September. This was an “astrobiologist’s dream”. Gizmodo previously reported. Because Bennu is a relic from the formation of the solar system, a closer look at its composition may provide hints not only about the primordial ingredients of life, but also about the building blocks of the early solar system. The sample container taken from the asteroid contains More asteroid debris than expected, which is a boon for scientists. However, these extra substances were found on the outside of the canister. rRecovery teams face difficulties in opening canisterswhich contains the majority of the sample.
The sample return occurred on September 24th when it was parachuted to Earth, specifically landing in the Utah desert. Since then, NASA has been working carefully to open the canister.
The return capsule landed safely on Earth despite a design flaw, but the space agency (understandably) wanted to get to the bottom of the problem and prevent it from happening again. A video review of the descent and examination of the system’s design plan revealed that the capsule’s parachute trigger wiring caused the affected drogue parachute to fire abnormally.
The drogue would deploy once it reached an altitude of about 10,000 feet (3 kilometers) to slow the capsule’s descent to the surface. Instead, when the capsule reached an altitude of 100,000 feet (30 km), the drogue’s retention cord was severed and it was separated from the capsule, still wrapped. Then, when the capsule reached approximately 9,000 feet (2.7 km), the drogue was deployed, completely separating it from the rest of the system. Thanks to the strength of the main parachute, the capsule still reached the ground safely, according to a NASA release.
NASA found problems with the OSIRIS-REx design plan, particularly the overuse of the word “main.” In the design of equipment transmitting electrical signals, “main” refers to the main chute, while on the receiving end of the design, “main” refers to the pyrotechnic device that deploys the drogue chute. “Technicians connected two main power sources, which caused the parachute to deploy out of order,” a NASA release said.
Officials’ conclusions about parachute hiccups could be confirmed by testing a system for releasing the parachute installed in one of the gloveboxes holding Bennu samples at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Sample material must be processed first, which is a time-consuming task, but then engineers can examine the details of the hardware to ensure such a failure never occurs again.
more: Video shows NASA spacecraft dispatching asteroid sample capsule to Earth