KinetX Spacecraft Set for Extended Missions: OSIRIS-REx Becomes OSIRIS-APEX, New Horizons Explores On
Artist's rendering of OSIRIS-APEX at asteroid Apophis. Image Credit: Heather Roper/UA
KinetX is thrilled to announce that two of our active spacecraft were funded for extended missions this week! The OSIRIS-REx and New Horizons missions were both selected to continue exploration of the solar system with additional support spanning coming years. New Horizons, which we have been navigating since 2006, will continue to explore the Kuiper Belt while collecting multi-disciplinary data in support of planetary science, heliophysics and astrophysics research. The OSIRIS-REx extended mission will carry a new name after the asteroid sample is dropped off at Earth. OSIRIS-APEX will rendezvous with and characterize Apophis immediately after the asteroid’s close approach with Earth in 2029. Not only will the KinetX team navigate this challenging mission around an asteroid even smaller than Bennu, but two of our staff members will also be scientific co-investigators on the mission. We look forward to working with our mission partners for years to come. Information about each of the extended missions are available here and cited below:
OSIRIS-APEX (Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniella DellaGiustina, University of Arizona): The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is currently on its way back to Earth to deliver the samples of asteroid Bennu that it collected in 2020. Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx PI, will remain in place for the primary mission, while DellaGiustina begins her role as the newly named PI for OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer (OSIRIS-APEX). With a new name to reflect the extended mission’s new goals, the OSIRIS-APEX team will redirect the spacecraft to encounter Apophis, an asteroid roughly 1,200 feet (roughly 370 meters) in diameter that will come within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of Earth in 2029. OSIRIS-APEX will enter orbit around Apophis soon after the asteroid’s Earth flyby, providing an unprecedented close-up look at this S-type asteroid. It plans to study changes in the asteroid caused by its close flyby of Earth and use the spacecraft’s gas thrusters to attempt to dislodge and study the dust and small rocks on and below Apophis’ surface.
New Horizons (Principal Investigator: Dr. Alan Stern, SwRI): New Horizons flew past Pluto in 2015 and the Kuiper belt object (KBO) Arrokoth in 2019. In its second extended mission, New Horizons will continue to explore the distant solar system out to 63 astronomical units (AU) from Earth. The New Horizons spacecraft can potentially conduct multi-disciplinary observations of relevance to the solar system and NASA’s Heliophysics and Astrophysics Divisions. Additional details regarding New Horizons’ science plan will be provided at a later date.
