Student Scientists: Building REXIS

The OSIRIS-REx camera suite will provide global maps and close-up images of asteroid Bennu, along with information about the carbon-rich asteroid's chemical makeup.This video is available for download in 4k resolution.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music Credits: "Ultimate Question" and "Victory Or Failure" by Guy & Zab Skornik [SACEM] OCAMS, the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite, consists of three instruments: the narrow-angle PolyCam, medium-angle MapCam, and wide-angle SamCam. Artist concept of the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite making a spectral map of asteroid Bennu. OCAMS sits on the OSIRIS-REx main instrument deck. Bennu is reflected in the primary mirror of PolyCam (left), and in the OTES spectrometer (right). NASA is sending the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to explore near-Earth asteroid Bennu, a carbon-rich body that may contain clues to the origins of life. When OSIRIS-REx arrives at Bennu in 2018, it will spend over a year orbiting the asteroid and studying it with a set of remote sensing instruments. The OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite, or OCAMS, will provide high-resolution images of Bennu, allowing OSIRIS-REx to map the asteroid, determine its mineralogy, and even take close-up pictures of the surface at less than a centimeter per pixel. After OCAMS and its fellow instruments have thoroughly surveyed Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will carry out its most important task: collecting a sample of the asteroid for return to Earth in 2023.Learn more about OCAMS.Visit the OSIRIS-REx mission website. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex) Related pages

OSIRIS-REx will use its visible and infrared spectrometer (OVIRS) to study the chemical composition of Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid that may hold clues to the origins of life.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. Animated diagram of the OVIRS spectrometer, tracing the path of light through the instrument.Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab/Walt Feimer The OVIRS instrument will allow OSIRIS-REx to hunt for organic molecules on asteroid Bennu.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Dan Gallagher OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS)Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center put the finishing touches on OVIRS.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk NASA is sending the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to explore near-Earth asteroid Bennu, a carbon-rich body that may contain clues to the origins of life. When OSIRIS-REx arrives at Bennu in 2018, it will spend over a year orbiting the asteroid and studying it with a suite of remote sensing instruments. The OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer, or OVIRS, will look at Bennu's spectral signature to detect organics and other minerals. After OVIRS and its fellow instruments have thoroughly surveyed Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will descend to the asteroid's surface, collect a sample, and return it to Earth in 2023.Learn more about the OVIRS instrument.Visit the OSIRIS-REx mission website. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html) Related pages

Scientists Richard Binzel, Rebecca Masterson, and Branden Allen discuss how the REXIS instrument aboard OSIRIS-REx works.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission launches in September 2016 and plans to return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023. This video profiles a student-built instrument aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft called REXIS - the Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer. The purpose of REXIS is to collect and image fluorescent X-rays emitted by the asteroid, which will give scientists information regarding atomic elements that comprise it. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html) Related pages

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. ANIMATION - Sunlight alters the orbit of a rotating asteroid via the Yarkovsky effect. Near-Earth asteroids like Bennu pose a potential danger to our planet, so it's important to predict their orbits with great accuracy. Unfortunately, a phenomenon called the Yarkovsky effect can make these predictions difficult over long time periods. How does this effect work?When sunlight strikes a rotating asteroid, the dayside heats up; as the asteroid turns, the night side cools and releases the heat, exerting a small thrust that can change the asteroid's direction over time. In order to learn more about this process on asteroid Bennu, NASA is sending a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx to make detailed observations of Bennu'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. For More InformationSee [http://www.asteroidmission.org/](http://www.asteroidmission.org/) Related pages

Bennu's Journey movie poster Bennu's Journey Full Resolution For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel. Bennu's Journey Letterboxed Bennu's Journey Cropped Bennu's Journey - no voiceover Bennu's Journey - Spanish Language Version Bennu's Journey is a 6-minute animated movie about NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, asteroid Bennu, and the formation of our solar system. 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 Journey shows what is known and what remains mysterious about the evolution of Bennu and the planets. By retrieving a sample of Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will teach us more about the raw ingredients of the solar system and our own origins.The animation was produced in an 8 x 3 aspect ratio at a resolution of 5760 x 2160 and is available in its full resolution, 4K Ultra HD, 1080HD and 720HD versions in both a letter boxed and a 16 x 9 cropped format. For More InformationSee [http://www.asteroidmission.org](http://www.asteroidmission.org) Related pages

"Playing Tag With an Asteroid" is a video demonstrating how OSIRIS-REx will use it's TAGSAM instrument to get a sample of the asteroid Bennu.For complete transcript, click here. What’s the best way get a sample of an asteroid? Play tag with it! That’s the plan for OSIRIS-REx, a NASA spacecraft that will approach the asteroid Bennu in 2018. The collection will be done with an instrument on board called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or, TAGSAM. Learn how it works in this video. Related pages

This narrated video provides an overiew of the OSIRIS-REx mission to observe asteroid Bennu and retreive a sample for study on Earth.For complete transcript, click here. OSIRIS-REx will visit a Near Earth asteroid called Bennu and return with samples that may hold clues to the origins of the solar system and perhaps life itself. It will also investigate the asteroid's chance of impacting Earth in 2182. For the mission, NASA has selected the team led by Principal Investigator Dr. Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona. NASA GSFC will manage the mission and Lockheed Martin Space Systems will build the spacecraft. Arizona State University will supply the OTES instrument; NASA GSFC will supply the OVIRS instrument; the Canadian Space Agency will supply the OLA instrument; the University of Arizona will supply the OCAMS camera suite; Harvard/MIT will supply the REXIS instrument; and Flight Dynamics will supply the KinetX instrument. For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html) Related pages

An overview video of 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's conception of a near-Earth asteroid flying past our planet. An animation depicting the Yarkovsky effect, the effect of solar heating on a rotating asteroid. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaches asteroid 1999 RQ36, Deployment of the OSIRIS-REx sample arm. Animation showing OSIRIS-REx instrument beams. Animation depicting the separation and return of the sample capsule. Rotation of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to show instruments and other details. OSIRIS-REx storing the sample in the sample return capsule. OSIRIS-REx "touching down" on asteroid 1999 RQ36. This page contains broadcast-quality animations for the OSIRIS-REx mission. For More InformationSee [http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu/](http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu/) Related pages