The returning OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to return samples from asteroid Bennu in September, but NASA is already running rehearsals to get it right.
The spacecraft has spent seven years in space and is now gearing up for its final, yet most challenging, task. OSIRIS-REx is on schedule to drop off a sample from asteroid Bennu on September 24 during a flyby of Earth, when it will eject a capsule containing the asteroid sample. The capsule will parachute its way down to Earth and land at the Air Force’s Utah Test and Training Range in the Great Salt Lake Desert.
. The sense of urgency here stems from fear that the sample will get spoiled by Earthly contaminants, thereby foiling the entire mission.The capsule has to land within a 37-mile by 9-mile ellipse about 13 minutes after it is released by the spacecraft.
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