On Monday, Sept. 12, OSIRIS-REx’s star tracker took its first image. Similar to the way early sailors used the stars to navigate, the spacecraft’s star tracker compares its images of the stars to an on-board catalogue, which tells the navigation systems which way the spacecraft is pointing.
One week post-launch, OSIRIS-REx remains healthy and is on track for its two-year journey to the asteroid Bennu! Read more in today’s mission status report: http://bit.ly/2crh9mJ
Image credit: NASA