On July 18-20, the team behind NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission rehearsed recovering a mock sample return capsule from the location where the real one, with fragments of asteroid Bennu, will land on Sept. 24: the Utah desert. Though the team has rehearsed portions of the recovery operation many times this year, this was the most realistic …
The capsule looked like something from a 1960s sci-fi flick. Resting on the ground, slightly tilted, its white heat shield flaked off in places, it looked how one would expect after speeding in from outer space and streaking across the sky like a shooting star. Despite its appearance, the mini-fridge-sized object had, in fact, never …
When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft releases a capsule with material from asteroid Bennu onto the Utah desert on Sept. 24, it will become the latest in a line of missions to gather samples from space and deliver them to Earth. Collecting material from space is a challenging feat that requires teams of dedicated scientists and engineers, …
This week, NASA's OSIRIS-REx science team is meeting as a whole for the last time before the sample of asteroid Bennu arrives on Earth. This occasion marks the last chance for the group to convene to make sure team members, lab facilities, and sample-analysis techniques are working as expected and ready for the delivery of …
By Richard Witherspoon, OSIRIS-REx Ground Recovery Lead, Lockheed Martin In anticipation of NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample delivery this fall, the team held our first round of rehearsals April 17 to April 27. Our goal was to practice retrieving the spacecraft's sample capsule from a simulated landing site at Lockheed Martin's campus near Denver. I am …
This week, we have been recapping noteworthy OSIRIS-REx mission events each day so you can catch up on anything you may have missed so far on NASA's first mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. (Post #4 in a series of four) At 1:50 p.m. EDT on Oct. 20, 2020, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft …
This week, we are recapping noteworthy OSIRIS-REx mission events each day so you can catch up on anything you may have missed so far in NASA's first mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. (Post #3 in a series of four) Given Bennu's unexpectedly rough terrain, NASA's OSIRIS-REx team took extra time to …
This week, we are recapping noteworthy OSIRIS-REx mission events each day so you can catch up on anything you may have missed so far in NASA's first mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. (Post #2 in a series of four) After traveling 1.2 billion miles (2 billion kilometers) to Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft …
This week, we are recapping noteworthy OSIRIS-REx mission events each day so you can catch up on anything you may have missed so far in NASA's first mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. (Post #1 in a series of four) NASA's first mission to sample an asteroid, OSIRIS-REx, launched on Sept. 8, 2016, …
After seven years in space, including a nail-biting touchdown on Bennu in 2020 to gather up dust and rocks, NASA's intrepid OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is about to face one of its biggest challenges yet: deliver an asteroid sample to Earth while protecting it from heat, vibrations, and earthly contaminants. "Once the sample capsule touches down, …
