Resource page: NASA to Brief Media on Asteroid Sample Mission Findings

  • Released Friday, January 24, 2025

Link to news release (also pasted below)

NASA will brief media at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 29, to provide an update on science results from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission, which delivered a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in September 2023.

Audio of the media call will stream live on the agency’s website.

Participants in the teleconference include:

Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Danny Glavin, senior scientist for sample return, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland
Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist, NASA Goddard
Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Washington
Sara Russell, cosmic mineralogist, Natural History Museum, London
Media interested in participating by phone must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the call to: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.

After the teleconference, NASA Goddard will host a limited onsite media availability for reporters local to the greater Washington area. The availability will include opportunities to tour the center’s astrobiology lab, which contributed to the study of the Bennu sample. Interested reporters should request participation by Sunday, Jan. 26, to: rob.garner@nasa.gov.

Launched on Sept. 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx was the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid in space. The spacecraft traveled to near-Earth asteroid Bennu and collected a sample of rocks and dust from the surface in 2020. It delivered the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

To learn more about OSIRIS-REx, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex/

-end-

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

Pre-recorded soundbites with Dr. Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. TRT 9:35. Full transcript is available under the download button. Dr. Dworkin answers the following questions:

1. The OSIRIS-REx mission was NASA’s first-ever mission to return a sample from an asteroid. Let’s start with the big picture. Why did NASA want to send a spacecraft to an asteroid and return a sample?

2. Why was this particular asteroid of interest to scientists?

3. Let’s talk about the new results. What did scientists learn from this first in-depth look at the sample?

4. What surprised you the most about the sample?

5. What are the ingredients for life as we know it? How do these results shape what we know about how life may have gotten started here on Earth?

6. What do these results suggest about how common these organic ingredients are throughout our solar system and potentially beyond?

7. You’ve been involved with this mission for quite a long time and were there the day this sample landed. Can you talk about what this journey has been like?

8. The search for life beyond Earth is a growing field of study for NASA. How does this mission fit into the larger field of astrobiology and the search for life?

9. What did you expect to find on Bennu versus what you ended up finding?

10. When you look back at this mission, are you glad Bennu was the chosen asteroid?

Pre-recorded interview with Jose Aponte / Astroquimico, Laboratiorio de Astrobiologia Analitica Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la NASA. TRT: 6:00

Click here for link to his: BIO

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Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Release date

This page was originally published on Friday, January 24, 2025.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at 11:23 AM EST.