OSIRIS-REx Sample Return: Animations

  • Released Wednesday, August 30th, 2023
  • Updated Wednesday, September 20th, 2023 at 7:49PM
  • ID: 20381

Ride along with OSIRIS-REx on the thrilling finale of its journey to Bennu and back.

Universal Production Music: “Rise to the Challenge” by Daniel Marantz and Michael James Burns, Raydia Music library [PRS]; “Fragments of Time” by Timothy Robert Shortell, Scores of Hypersonic Music [BMI]

Watch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel.

OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission. It launched in September 2016 on a journey to explore a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu. In October 2020, the spacecraft ventured to the asteroid’s surface and collected about 250 grams of material for delivery to Earth. The mission’s thrilling finale will take place on September 24, 2023, as OSIRIS-REx releases a capsule containing the Bennu samples for touchdown in the Utah desert.

This page contains the movies and frames for twenty of the shots that comprise “To Bennu and Back: Journey’s End,” a produced video for the OSIRIS-REx mission. Watch the produced video on YouTube.

OSIRIS-REx approaches Earth on September 24, 2023.

OSIRIS-REx releases its Sample Return Capsule.

Timeline of the capsule’s entry, descent, and landing sequence (in Mountain Time).

After releasing the capsule, OSIRIS-REx fires its thrusters to avoid colliding with Earth.

The sample return capsule heads toward atmospheric entry.

The capsule enters Earth’s atmosphere and begins to glow with heat.

Shortly after atmospheric entry, the capsule undergoes maximum heating.

A wider shot of the capsule during maximum heating.

Cutaway of the capsule’s interior as the Bennu samples undergo maximum deceleration.

The capsule deploys its drogue parachute, stabilizing its descent.

Radar tracks the capsule as it enters special use airspace over western Utah.

About one mile above the ground, the capsule deploys its main parachute.

Like a marathon runner savoring a victory lap, the capsule slowly descends to the desert floor.

The Sample Return Capsule touches down!

The spacecraft bids farewell to Earth and embarks on an extended mission with a new name: OSIRIS-APEX.

During perihelion, OSIRIS-APEX goes into “Fig Leaf” configuration to shield itself from the Sun.

OSIRIS-APEX pursues asteroid Apophis during its exceptionally close flyby of Earth on April 13, 2029.

OSIRIS-APEX uses its thrusters to disturb the surface of Apophis, in order to study its properties.

For More Information

See NASA.gov

Credits

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

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions: