After more than two years circling a lumpy space rock called Bennu , it's finally time for NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to head back to Earth with a full load precious cargo: pieces of an asteroid.
OSIRIS-REx (known formally as Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) collected asteroid samples from Bennu in October. Now it's time to bring those samples home to laboratories on Earth for scientists to study to understand how asteroids, and our solar system, formed.
Loaded with asteroid rubble, NASA craft turns for home – Press Enterprise
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With rubble from an asteroid tucked inside, a NASA spacecraft fired its engines and began the long journey back to Earth on Monday, leaving the ancient space rock in its rearview mirror.
Osiris-Rex reached asteroid Bennu in 2018 and spent two years flying near and around it, before collecting rubble from the surface last fall.
The University of Arizona’s Dante Lauretta, the principal scientist, estimates the spacecraft holds between a half pound and 1 pound of mostly bite-size chunks. Either way, it easily exceeds the target of at least 2 ounces.
Spacecraft to begin journey back to Earth with asteroid sample
Inverse Daily: Is this our best defense against an asteroid?
For the last decade or so , researchers, space agencies, and other governmental organizations have periodically come together to do a macabre dress rehearsal of our doom. The goal is to prepare the world to handle an event of such magnitude, one that would require coordination across borders unlike any other effort in history.
This year's exercise faced a different disastrous reality, though. With Covid-19 precautions still in place, it was held, like almost everything these days, via online video chat.
Lake County News,California - Space News: NASA invites public, media to watch asteroid mission
Spacecraft heads home with asteroid rubble | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
With rubble from an asteroid tucked inside, a NASA spacecraft has fired its engines and began the long journey back to earth, leaving the ancient space rock in its rearview mirror.
Osiris-Rex reached asteroid Bennu in 2018 and spent two years flying near and around it, before collecting rubble from the surface.
The University of Arizona's Dante Lauretta, the principal scientist, estimates the spacecraft holds between 200 grams and 400 grams of mostly bite-size chunks.
VI Grade student discovers an asteroid | Aurangabad News - Times of India
3 BRILLIANT MINUTES: Asteroids, Mars, Mercury and the Moon
In 3 Brilliant Minutes, he discusses the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, a new discovery about Mercury, Ingenuity mapping out future missions to Mars, and the full moon of May known as the Blood Moon.
The visitors from deep space baffling scientists - BBC Future
It emerged from the celestial void in October 2017 – a tiny bright speck on the telescope at Haleakalā Observatory , Hawaii .
This space anomaly was named ' Oumuamua – pronounced oh-moo-uh-moo-uh – Hawaiian for "a messenger from afar arriving first". Robert Weryk, the astronomer at the University of Hawaii who first detected it, knew immediately from its speed that he was looking at something new to physics. This was no ordinary comet or asteroid, it was an interstellar visitor from a distant, unidentified solar system – the first to have ever been found.
Happening on Twitter
After nearly 5 years in space, @NASASolarSystem's #OSIRISREx mission is heading to Earth with a sample of rocks & d… https://t.co/ImJ8LCUUYQ NASA (from Pale Blue Dot) Mon May 10 21:30:42 +0000 2021
🤘 LIVE: Rock on! Join us as @NASASolarSystem's #OSIRISREx mission bids farewell to asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft w… https://t.co/khCuur8J2E NASA (from Pale Blue Dot) Mon May 10 20:05:01 +0000 2021
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Today our #OSIRISREx spacecraft says goodbye to Bennu after orbiting the asteroid for… https://t.co/lSFzLFjS2Y NASASolarSystem (from Milky Way Galaxy) Mon May 10 15:20:02 +0000 2021
"Spacecraft are dependent on us in their first year as we bond. They tend to throw tantrums in their next couple of… https://t.co/b61x4bVItu NASA (from Pale Blue Dot) Sun May 09 15:55:01 +0000 2021
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