OSIRIS-REx is about to get up close and personal with asteroid Bennu
Image: NASA
The spacecraft stealing these rocks is called OSIRIS-REx, part of the first-ever NASA mission tasked with returning samples of an asteroid back to Earth. Launched in September of 2016, OSIRIS-REx spent two years traveling to an asteroid named Bennu., the spacecraft has been circling the asteroid and mapping it in excruciating detail, in order to find just the right spot to scoop up a sample.
But none of that can happen if OSIRIS-REx doesn’t pull off its most important task, which is why tomorrow is such a big day for the mission team. And since it takes up to 18 minutes to get one signal out to OSIRIS-REx at the moment, the spacecraft must execute everything by itself. Then OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu and snapped the first up-close images of the asteroid. “Once we started to see the surface of Bennu, we knew that we were going to have to change our approach,” says Freund.than everyone had expected, with boulders the size of buildings dotting its surface. Rocky terrain can be tricky to navigate around, and if the spacecraft comes in contact with a particularly large boulder, the vehicle could tip over and veer off course.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx is poised to return bits of the asteroid Bennu to EarthAsteroid dirt from Bennu could help reveal clues about the material that came together to make the solar system — and possibly where life comes from.
Read more »
Telescope spots OSIRIS-REx returning from asteroid BennuThe NASA spacecraft will return a sample from the distant asteroid to Earth on September 24.
Read more »
OSIRIS-REx is about to fling samples of the asteroid Bennu at EarthNASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is about to hurtle past Earth, and if all goes well it will drop its samples from the asteroid Bennu in the Utah desert on 24 September
Read more »
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Makes Final Course Adjustment Before Asteroid Sample DeliveryNASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft fired its thrusters to adjust its trajectory to refine its sample capsule's landing location on Earth, set for September 24, targeting the Defense Department’s Utah Test and Training Range. On September 17, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx engineers slightly shifted the spacecraft’s
Read more »
NASA OSIRIS-REx spacecraft ready for special delivery of asteroid sample in Utah on SundayNASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to drop off rocks, dust and dirt it collected from the asteroid Bennu in 2020.
Read more »
What time is NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return capsule landing on Sept. 24?Each second of the capsule's descent has been calculated in anticipation for NASA's first asteroid sample return mission.
Read more »