Apr 3, 2019 · OSIRIS-REx is the first mission to visit a B-type asteroid. In addition, the sample that returns to Earth in 2023 will be our first chance to put pristine material from this type of asteroid under a microscope.

Dec 3, 2018 · It’s a critical step in OSIRIS-REx’s years-long quest to collect and eventually deliver at least two ounces (60 grams) of regolith -- dirt and rocks -- from Bennu to Earth. Starting in October, OSIRIS-REx performed a series of braking maneuvers to slow the spacecraft down as it approached Bennu.

Dec 6, 2018 · The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will use its suite of instruments to transmit radio tracking signals and capture optical images of Bennu that will help NASA scientists determine its precise position in the solar system and its exact orbital path. Combined with existing, ground-based observations, the space measurements will help clarify how Bennu's ...

Dec 31, 2018 · The OSIRIS-REx team will resume science operations in late February. At that point, the spacecraft will perform a series of close flybys of Bennu for several months to take high-resolution images of every square inch of the asteroid to help select a sampling site.

The Hayabusa2 mission is similar to NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu. This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on Dec. 2, 2019, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles (24 kilometers).

Dec 10, 2018 · OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission. Data obtained from the spacecraft’s two spectrometers, the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES), reveal the presence of molecules that contain oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together, known as “hydroxyls.”

Mar 19, 2019 · This view of asteroid Bennu ejecting particles from its surface on January 19 was created by combining two images taken on board NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Other image processing techniques were also applied, such as cropping and adjusting the brightness and contrast of each image.

Sep 18, 2017 · You can see history in the making on Sept. 22: That's the day OSIRIS-REx—the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth—will make a close approach to Earth as it uses our planet's gravity to slingshot itself toward the asteroid Bennu.

Feb 14, 2018 · As part of an engineering test, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this image of the Earth and Moon using its NavCam1 imager on January 17 from a distance of 39.5 million miles (63.6 million km).

OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from the asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth for further research, features her artwork which is etched onto a microchip, placed in a digital "outer space" gallery, and will orbit the Sun for millennia.