OSIRIS-REx Begins Two Year Journey to Return Sample to Earth

Bill Jelen

May 10, 2021

Filtered by Tag: OSIRIS-REx
NASA
May 10, 2021
Bill Jelen

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on its way home, carrying samples from Bennu.

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A still frame from an animation released by the OSIRIS-REx team depicts the TAGSAM collection head being stowed in the sample return capsule. Credit: NASA/NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center/OSIRIS-REx Mission

Expect Three Days of Contingency Operations as Regolith Leaks from OSIRIS-REx

NASA
October 26, 2020
Bill Jelen

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is a victim of its own success. Five pieces of the asteroid have prevented a Mylar flap from closing, allowing valuable science material to leak out. More material will leak out over three upcoming days of stow activity.

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Captured on Oct. 20 during the OSIRIS-REx mission’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event, this image shows the SamCam imager’s field of view at the moment when the NASA spacecraft touched down on asteroid Bennu’s surface. The sampling event brought the spacecraft all the way down to sample site Nightingale, and the team on Earth received confirmation of successful touchdown at 6:08 p.m. EDT. Preliminary data show the sampling head touched Bennu’s surface for approximately 6 seconds, after which the spacecraft performed a back-away burn. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Sampling Success: OSIRIS-REx Successfully Gathers Bennu Regolith for Asteroid Sample Return

NASA
October 21, 2020
Bill Jelen

"...I dreamed of an array of Bennu regolith floating around me." - Dante Lauretta, Principal Investigator, OSIRIS-REx

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A full-scale engineering model of OSIRIS-REx's TAGSAM collector, used to gather samples from the surface of asteroid Bennu. Photo credit: Jared Haworth / We Report Space

OSIRIS-REx To Attempt TAG of Asteroid Bennu

NASA
October 20, 2020
Bill Jelen

Asteroid Bennu will have its "close encounter" with OSIRIS-REx on October 20, 2020, as the spacecraft makes contact and collects samples for study back on earth.

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OSIRIS-REx Set For Bennu Orbital Insertion Today

NASA
December 31, 2018
Bill Jelen

At 2:43:55 PM EST today, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will begin orbiting asteroid Bennu. This will make Bennu, which is only about 1,600 feet across, the smallest object ever orbited by a spacecraft. Launched on September 8, 2016, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived in the vicinity of Bennu on December 3, 2018.

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