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 …
As Earth spins around the Sun, our planet's slight tilt creates seasons. Now, research from two NASA space missions has found how the same tilt also influences seasonal differences in space weather – conditions in space produced by the Sun's activity. Space weather events produce the beautiful glow of the northern and southern lights, but, …
In a world where many global challenges exist, finding ways to respond to an as yet undiscovered asteroid that might one day impact Earth could seem like a lesser priority. While it is true there are currently no known asteroids of significant size on a collision trajectory with Earth, an asteroid impact with our …
On March 23, 2023, NASA's Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) successfully passed its critical design review, marking a major milestone for the project and keeping it on pace for a scheduled launch next year.
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 …
NASA's Psyche mission, which will explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, is on track to launch in October 2023 after a one-year delay to complete critical testing. The launch period will open Oct. 5 and close Oct. 25. The asteroid, which lies in the outer portion of the main asteroid belt between Mars …
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, …