BEI Kimco, a brand of Sensata Technologies and a part of NASA’s first asteroid sampling mission, have designed a customized Moving Magnet Voice Coil Actuator (VCA) to meet the harsh requirements for a spectrometer moving mirror application on the Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex) spacecraft. The OSIRIS-Rex launched on Sept 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:05 p.m EDT, in its mission to rendezvous with the Asteroid Bennu in 2018 and return samples to Earth in 2023.
The VCA was manufactured to custom requirements for high reliability and fail safe operation. Redundant technology, low-outgassing and high precision for exact motion control positioning were all key requirements to the actuator design. It was also critical to stay within the specific size, weight and power limits. The design also primarily uses mechanical assembly methods within a clean manufacturing processes, thereby eliminating substances that could cause outgassing.