OSIRIS-REx Operational Key Decision Points: A Retrospective

TL;DR

This paper reviews the critical decision points and operational strategies of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, highlighting how effective decision-making enabled successful asteroid sample collection and return under challenging conditions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed retrospective analysis of key operational decisions and their impact on mission success, offering insights for future complex space missions.

Findings

Effective decision processes contributed to mission success.

Operational challenges were managed through adaptive decision-making.

The mission achieved the largest planetary sample return to date.

Abstract

OSIRIS-REx, NASA's first asteroid sample return mission, rendezvoused with the near-Earth asteroid Bennu in 2018 and delivered a 121.6-gram sample to Earth in 2023, the largest amount of material ever recovered from a planetary body beyond the Moon. The operations phase of OSIRIS-REx was considered the most challenging robotic mission that NASA had undertaken, owing to the tight constraints on spacecraft performance and the microgravity environment. In preparation for the sample collection and return campaign, the mission leadership defined four operational key decision points (OKDPs) at critical junctures: sample site selection, rehearsal and execution of the sample collection maneuver, sample stow, and Earth return. This publication examines these OKDPs in depth, inclusive of rationale, implementation, decision processes, and efficacy. We also review other decisions that enabled mission success despite the unexpectedly rugged nature of Bennu's surface. This information should be beneficial for future challenging operational concepts where science-in-the-loop, time-critical decision making is integral to success.