Dani DellaGiustina, PhD

DANI'S TALK [WATCH ON YOUTUBE]:

Sample return poses many technical challenges for spacecraft missions. Only three (3) asteroids have been successfully sampled by spacecraft, including Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx faced many challenges, as the spacecraft and scientific instruments were designed without exact knowledge of asteroid Bennu’s surface. When the spacecraft arrived at the asteroid in 2018, the asteroid was highly different than predicted, yet OSIRIS-Rex captured a sample. This talk describes the engineering design principles that enabled the mission to overcome many unexpected challenges.

ABOUT DANI

Dani DellaGiustina is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona. Dani is the Deputy Principal Investigator and Image Processing Lead Scientist for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return mission.

Her research focuses on the remote sensing of asteroid surfaces and planetary seismology, which she accomplishes by designing complex systems with robust engineering development principles.