PTFE from Berghof goes into space with the OSIRIS-REx mission
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PTFE from Berghof goes into space with the OSIRIS-REx mission

September 15, 2023

The US space agency found Berghof’s black Optical PTFE to be the ideal material to protect the sensitive measuring instruments of its satellite from interferences.

NASA wants to send a satellite to the surface of asteroid “Bennu” in the OSIRIS-REx mission in order to explore it and take material samples. For this, the space vehicle is equipped with highly complex and accordingly sensitive optical measuring instruments (OCAMS).

In order to minimize interferences from direct sunlight or reflected scattered light when taking pictures, the NASA engineers went in search of a material that would absorb as much light as possible while reducing its thermal effects.

The path to validation

The developers shortlisted the optical PTFE from Berghof Fluoroplastics very early on due to its unique bidirectional reflection behaviour. The first examinations showed that the version with the lowest reflectivity would be particularly suitable for the requirements of this mission. In order to be validated as “space-flight material”, however, it had to go through further comprehensive tests, among others regarding long-term resilience under vacuum in various thermal scenarios, abrasion behaviour, electrical conductivity and influences of high-energy particle radiation.

“The BRDF of black PTFE is fantastic. It meets our mission requirements.”

NASA Engineering

In the end, black Optical PTFE by Berghof Fluoroplastics convinced the NASA developers and engineers. Applied on a large part of the surface of the optical instruments and other surface parts of the satellite, it now enables the measuring systems to work without interferences so that the satellite will be able to land safely on the asteroid.

The technical publications on the validation process and the use of black Optical PTFE can be found on the NASA Technical Report Server (NTAS):

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190029271

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170007477

Just how impressive the images would be, became apparent even before the actual mission goal was reached, when the optical instruments were able to take the first joint photo of the Earth and Moon together. The result can be seen here:

https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=osiris-rex-images-earth-moon-color

OSIRIS-REx Mission Overview

The most important milestones

Since the launch of the satellite in 2016, NASA has regularly published updates on the mission on this page:

https://www.asteroidmission.org/status-updates/

The first milestone of the mission: In August 2018, the satellite caught up with the asteroid "Bennu" in its orbit and began surveying it.

Since then, the satellite did not leave the side from "Bennu" and orbited him. For several months, the focus was on selecting the optimal landing site for the "Touch-And-Go (TAG)" maneuver. Four regions on "Bennu" had been shortlisted for this: "Sandpiper", "Osprey", Kingfisher" and "Nightingale".

In December 2019, NASA finally decided on the "Nightingale" area as landing zone, which is located in a crater in the very north of "Bennu".

2020 Timeline

 

The next milestone followed in April 2020: the system and the team passed the rehearsal for the mission's highlight, the "Touch-And-Go (TAG)" maneuver, successfully.

During the flight simulation, OSIRIS-REx approached for the first time at only 65 meters distance from the asteroid's surface. The following images show the extended TAGSAM (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism), which is used for regolith sampling and is coated with layers of black Optical PTFE from Berghof.

 

On October 20, 2020, however, the big day finally arrived for which everyone involved in this mission had been eagerly awaiting for so long: OSIRIS-REx landed on the asteroid on schedule and the gripper arm encased in Optopolymer® sucked regolith material from its surface.

Thanks to NASA's live transmission, interested people all over the world were able to follow this historic event live, just as people did when they landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Since then, the satellite with its unique cargo on board has been on its long journey back to Earth.

September 24, 2023 will also go down in the history books. On that day – seven years after its launch into space – OSIRIS-REx will send a capsule back to Earth with this unique cargo.

Researchers around the world are looking forward to this moment. After all, these rock samples will enable science to take a critical look at our previous answers to the big questions of our lives – such as the origin of our universe.

So we can look forward to seeing what contribution this mission will make to our (future) knowledge of the world.

This was the first space mission on which Optopolymer® from Berghof had to prove itself – and it did so successfully over the entire period, earning the title of "space-proof material".

Our Optopolymer® will continue to provide valuable services – because the end of the mission has not yet been reached. See how the satellite's journey continues in the following video.

 

 

Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/University of Arizona; University of Arizona/Symeon Platts

 

15. September 2023

Application report NASA

In this extensive application report, the NASA project team describes in detail and with a lot of interesting background information why and how they used our Optopolymer® on this mission.

(pdf | 2 MB)
15. September 2023

Experience report NASA

This comprehensive experience report by the NASA project team impressively demonstrates how much our Optopolymer® has earned the title "space-proof material."

(pdf | 644 KB)