OSIRIS-REx Will Not Change Bennu Trajectory to Wipe Out the Earth

OSIRIS-REx Will Fuel Scientific Discovery for 175 Years

OSIRIS-REx Team: Two Ounces is Bennu-ful

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.

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?

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.