Thursday, December 5, 2024

How NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe survived its 1st close encounter with the sun

NASAHow NASA's OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe survived its 1st close encounter with the sun


OSIRIS-APEX emerged “unscathed” from its closest-ever brush past our sun on Jan. 2, scientists announced on Tuesday (May 28). 

The probe, originally known as OSIRIS-REx, aced its sample-return mission to the asteroid Bennu and is now headed to the space rock Apophis on an extended mission. That new mission calls for OSIRIS-APEX to glide 25 million miles (40 million kilometers) closer to the sun than it was designed to operate. Scientists deem several such close passes necessary for the probe to get on a path to reach Apophis in 2029.

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