OSIRIS-REx Returning Asteroid Bennu Samples To Earth

Space.com

NASA's  OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to return samples of Asteroid Bennu to Earth.  Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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00:00OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first asteroid sample-return mission.

00:05It launched in September 2016 on a journey to explore a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu.

00:12After arriving in 2018, OSIRIS-REx spent nearly two years orbiting Bennu, mapping and studying

00:17its rugged terrain before carrying out its primary science objective.

00:22On October 20, 2020, the spacecraft ventured to a small crater in the asteroid's northern

00:28hemisphere.

00:29It dodged jagged rocks and towering boulders and plunged its arm into the loose surface,

00:34excavating six tons of debris while collecting about 250 grams of material.

00:40OSIRIS-REx stowed its bounty and closed its sample-return capsule.

00:45It bid farewell to Bennu in May 2021, embarking on a 1.2 billion-mile cruise back to Earth.

00:51Now, two years and four months after leaving Bennu, OSIRIS-REx is closing in on the place

00:57where its journey began.

01:03On September 24, the spacecraft will approach to nearly 63,000 miles from Earth.

01:08It will power up and release its sample-return capsule at 4.42 a.m. mountain time.

01:14The capsule must be jettisoned within a narrow time frame and at just the right angle to

01:18hit its target, an area of roughly 250 square miles in Utah's West Desert.

01:25Once the capsule is away, OSIRIS-REx will fire its thrusters to avoid colliding with

01:30Earth.

01:31At 8.42 a.m., the capsule will streak into the atmosphere at a blistering 27,000 miles

01:38per hour.

01:39It will race across the western U.S. and begin to glow with heat, allowing infrared trackers

01:44on the ground to chart its progress.

01:47As it pushes deeper into the atmosphere, the capsule will rapidly decelerate, subjecting

01:51the Bennu samples to a punishing 32 Gs.

01:55About two minutes after entry, it will slow to Mach 1.4 and deploy its drogue parachute,

02:00stabilizing its descent.

02:02The capsule will enter special-use airspace at 8.46 a.m., almost 10 miles above the Department

02:08of Defense Utah Test and Training Range.

02:11Radar stations will lock on and track it to within 30 feet of its landing site.

02:16At 8.50 a.m., the capsule will extract and deploy its main parachute one mile above the

02:21ground.

02:22It will make its final descent at a leisurely 11 miles per hour, like a marathon runner

02:27savoring a victory lap, before touching down in the desert soil at 8.55.

02:35After ground teams retrieve the capsule, the Bennu samples will be taken to NASA's Johnson

02:40Space Center in Houston, Texas.

02:42The sample canister will be opened in the Astro Materials Acquisition and Curation Facility,

02:47and the samples will be curated, distributed, and studied for decades to come.

02:53Having delivered its cargo, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will depart Earth, but its journey

02:58will not quite be finished.

03:00In a daring encore, the renamed OSIRIS-APEX will enter an elliptical orbit of the Sun,

03:06repeatedly passing within the orbit of Venus and pushing the limits of its thermal design.

03:11Beginning in 2029, it will chase down and investigate Apophis, a 1,200-foot stony asteroid

03:18destined to make an exceptionally close flyby of Earth.

03:22After 13 years in deep space, at the start of a new decade, alone on a new world, the

03:28journey will continue.

03:41NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

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