OSIRIS-REx Mission Overview

Dante Lauretta, the Principal Investigator for OSIRIS-REx, gives an overview of the asteroid sample return mission.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. The OSIRIS-REx mission, launching in September 2016, plans to return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023 so that scientists can study pristine material left over from the early solar system. Learn more at nasa.gov/osiris-rex and asteroidmission.org.

College students in Boston are getting the chance to help NASA explore an asteroid. These student scientists have built an instrument called REXIS, which will fly on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that launches in September 2016. This video puts a spotlight on a group of these students and their experience on the REXIS project.Watch this video on the NASAgovVideo YouTube channel.

Rotating asteroids have a tough time sticking to their orbits. Their surfaces heat up during the day and cool down at night, giving off radiation that can act as a sort of mini-thruster. This force, called the Yarkovsky effect, can cause rotating asteroids to drift widely over time, making it hard for scientists to predict their long-term risk to Earth. Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. Near-Earth asteroids like Bennu pose a potential danger to our planet, so it s shape, brightness, and surface features. These factors are thought to influence the Yarkovsky effect, and understanding how will enable scientists to better predict the orbit of Bennu and other near-Earth asteroids. ANIMATION - Sunlight alters the orbit of a rotating asteroid via the Yarkovsky effect.

Project Scientist Jason Dworkin discusses the OSIRIS-REx mission to explore asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth.View transcript.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel. Astrobiologists like Jason Dworkin are keenly interested in the origins of life on Earth, but the evidence that they seek was erased long ago by Earth’s geology and chemistry. Fortunately, asteroids like Bennu preserve the solar system’s earliest ingredients - including the carbon-based building blocks of life - which can be retrieved and studied by scientists in a lab on Earth. That’s why NASA is sending a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx to explore asteroid Bennu and bring back a sample. The material collected by OSIRIS-REx will provide a wealth of data for future generations of scientists, shedding light on one of the solar system s biggest mysteries.Learn more about the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu.Learn more about the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory at NASA Goddard.

For complete transcript, click here. Born from the rubble of a violent collision, hurled through space for millions of years, Asteroid Bennu has had a tough life in a rough neighborhood - the early solar system. Bennu s Instagram and Flickr. For complete transcript, click here. For complete transcript, click here. For complete transcript, click here. For complete transcript, click here. For complete transcript, click here.

Bennu s Journey - Spanish Language Version

An overview video of the OSIRIS-REx mission. This page contains broadcast-quality animations for the OSIRIS-REx mission. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft apporaches asteroid Bennu. Another view of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaching asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx performs remote sensing observations of asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx deploys its Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechansim (TAGSAM) instrument. OSIRIS-REx collects a sample of asteroid Bennu. Exterior view of OSIRIS-REx collecting a sample of asteroid Bennu with its Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM). Cutaway view of the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) collecting a sample of asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx performs a spin maneuver to dertermine the mass of the sample. OSIRIS-REx stores its sample of asteroid Bennu inside the Sample Return Capsule (SRC). OSIRIS-REx returns its sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth. A 360 degree view of OSIRIS-REx. Artist on asteroid 1999 RQ36.