Checkout The OSIRIS-Rex Asteroid Sample Return Mission

Interesting Facts About The OSIRIS-Rex Mission!

• The OSIRIS-REx name stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer. OSIRIS-Rex was much shorter!
• The 500 m diameter asteroid Bennu was selected, not only because of the need to learn more about a potential near-Earth object (there is an estimated 1-in-1,800 chance of hitting Earth in the year 2170), but also because the asteroid is believed to be comprised of pristine carbonaceous material!
• OSIRIS-REx’s key science objectives are to map the asteroid, collect information for more accurate orbit calculations (e.g. even the influence of the Sun’s light pressure) and to collect and return a sample of the surface material.
• The spacecraft is a compact box-shaped probe with a length of 2.4 m (8 ft), a width of 2.4 m (8 ft) and height of 3.1 m (10.3 ft) and will be powered by two solar panels.
• The launch of OSIRIS-REx occurred on September 8th 2016 atop a ULA Atlas V rocket.
• After a 2 year cruise to the asteroid, the spacecraft will spend 505 days mapping the surface from a low orbit of approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) to study the asteroid and identify the best sample location.
• To collect the sample, the spacecraft will descend very slowly, once contact with the surface is detected a burst of nitrogen gas will be released which should result in surface material being collected at the end of the robotic arm. OSIRIS-REx will then initiate a safe departure from the asteroid. If required 3 sample attempts can be performed!
• It is hoped between 60 to 2,000 grams will be collected in July 2020 and returned to Earth three years later.
• The cost of the mission will be approximately US$933.5 million including the launch costs. Wow, that’s an astronomical amount!

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for OSIRIS-REx to arrive and start beaming back cool images of this fossil of the early solar system!