The mission plan for OSIRIS-REx is to visit the asteroid Bennu and bring back anywhere from 2 ounces to 4.4 pounds of material. Since Bennu is carbon-rich, the scientists might discover the building blocks of life, the same building blocks that might have crashed into Earth and began the origin of life on Earth. But with such a wide span - two ounces to 4.4 pounds, I spoke to the OSIRIS-REx team about their secret goals and desires.
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Why OSIRIS-REx is Courting Asteroid Bennu
The September 8, 2016 launch of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft begins a two-year journey to catch up to asteroid Bennu. Why was Bennu chosen as the asteroid to study?
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OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta Explains Mission Profile
At a pair of media events leading up to the September 8, 2016 launch of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, we had a chance to discuss the mission profile with Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta. Lauretta is a Professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. He is the P.I. for OSIRIS-REx and the guy who coined the acronym: Origins, Spectral Integration, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith EXplorer. True, the goal of the spacecraft is to send a 2 ounce to 4 pound sample of asteroid Bennu back to Earth on September 24, 2023. But a lot has to happen between now and that point.
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Stunning, full color photo book covering every east coast launch spanning 2014-2015, including the first-ever powered landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
More InfoRising above the Space Coast at the same time of the rising sun, the Atlas V rocket sent to orbit the top secret NRO USSF-51 satellite for the United States Space Force
