OSIRIS-REx Space Probe

OSIRIS-REx is a seven-year mission to return a sample of the asteroid Bennu. This is my model of the spacecraft.
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updated September 24, 2023

Description

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An intrepid space probe on its seven-year mission to return a sample of the asteroid Bennu. This is the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft. The exciting days are in progress now, so you'd best print out a copy of this model to follow-along as the mission is thrilling space fans across the globe.

This is an original from-scratch design, modelling the spacecraft in such a way to make it 3D-printable. As space probes have many things jutting out at all angles, designing and printing them is difficult. My rule-of-thumb is they should fit in one's hand, so getting feature sizes to work in a small model can be difficult. So there is a certain amount of artistic-license employed. While it is not precisely to scale, it faithfully represents the proportions most prominent instruments across the craft, and looks good on your desk while doing it.

I hope you will agree that the result is a good trade-off between accuracy and feasible-printability. There are basically six pieces and various pegs to hold things together. See below for a few tips on print orientation and assembly. A two-piece stand is also included for an inspiring display.

After printing a bit of cleanup, a bit of hot-glue, snap the pieces together and you should have yourself a nice desktop model.

The peg-based assembly helps deal with variability between 3D printers. Tolerances will only affect the fit of the pegs in holes. If too loose a bit of hot glue works regardless. If a bit tight, you can easily sand the pegs slightly for a better fit.

OPTIONAL: As per a request - the LEFT solar panel and the small sample return capsule (looks like a little antenna) have been separated in case you wish to print them in different colours (see example by @jfcusson )

Intending to someday share in a Shapeways Store in the future for those without the 3D printer (and the patience) who want to just buy and assemble a finely detailled model. Sorry if I'm a bit slow to get that queued up there.

Check Out Some of my Other Space Probes

Porting here soon from the other place, you can print

Post-Printing

The assembly should be self-explanatory. There are pegs to hold on the main antenna and sample return capsule. There are also pegs to hold together the top and bottom halves of the craft's main body.

There are also pins to hold on the solar panels. Those pins are best printed flat, rather than standing up. (They're flat in the STL file). Small items printed vertically can easily break where layers separate, but laying flat they'll be fine.

Depending on your printer (mine's a cheapo) use of supports may have acceptable or nasty effects on the supported edge. The design tries to take that into account.

The main antenna dish is best printed on edge (as in the STL file layout) with supports enabled to get the nicest detail on top. The pins and panels all print without supports. The top and bottom chunks should have supports to the build plate for best results.

A bit of clean-up with an exacto knife is a good idea (careful - don't poke yourself) - just to remove stringing and blogs, again depending on how good your printer is.

Don't clean up the pegs too much until you try them. Some blobs and roughness can help if you are doing a 'friction fit' allowing you to remove bits.

I used hot-glue to assemble my pieces with good results.

The solar panels rotate nicely into any desired position. Flipped up, they are as the craft was placed in the launch rocket. Deployed out fully, they emulate the cruise position. Careful not to force them too far. If you like them in a certain position, but a dab of hot-glue on the pins and squeeze the pin into place (use pliers if you need a bit of pressure).

For the stand - you can use hot-glue to hold the post to the base. Or try a small screw in the hole provided. I was happy with glue. Once that joint is made, you can leave the model just sitting on the top of the post securely, or glue it there too.

How I Designed This

This model was designed in Blender, using many, many photos to figure out all the instruments. It's not to scale - so features are suggested rather than scientifically accurate, but should be a pretty good representation of the real thing.

The real OSIRIS-REx has a boom arm that reaches out to sample the asteroid Bennu. Making a robust-enough functional arm to do that seemed difficult at this scale. I may add one later with a bit of 'artistic-license' but for now the instrument is shown but not deployable for better survivability.

Design Date: Jan 2018

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Model origin

The author marked this model as their own original creation. Imported from Thingiverse.

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