MIT Students Prepare for Flight of OSIRIS-REx NASA Mission

OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer) is a NASA New Frontier’s mission scheduled for launch in 2016 that will travel to the asteroid Bennu and return a pristine sample of the asteroid to Earth. The REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) is a student collaboration instrument on-board the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. REXIS is NASA risk Class D instrument and its design and development is largely student led.

David Brad Carte is a 2nd year masters student in the Aero/Astro department of MIT and am the structural engineer on REXIS. His job is concerned with designing, analyzing, and testing our hardware to ensure we meet structural margins and mission requirements related to mechanical/structural aspects of REXIS.

The engineering team consists of MIT graduate and undergraduate students and is led by staff at the MIT Space Systems Laboratory. The primary goal of REXIS is the education of science and engineering students through participation in the development of flight hardware. In flight, REXIS will seek to contribute to the mission by providing an elemental abundance map of the asteroid to characterize Bennu among the known meteorite groups. REXIS is sensitive to X-rays between 0.5 and 7.5 keV and uses coded-aperture imaging to gather spatial information and map the distribution of Iron with 50 m spatial resolution.

More information regarding the project can be found here.

Thank you David for sharing with the SolidWorks Community, Marie

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Marie Planchard

Senior Director, Early Engagement, 3DEXPERIENCE Works at Dassault Systemes

Marie Planchard is an education and engineering advocate. As Senior Director of Education & Early Engagement, SOLIDWORKS, she is responsible for global development of content and social outreach for the 3DEXPERIENCE Works products across all levels of learning including educational institutions, Fab Labs, and entrepreneurship.