OSIRIS-REx

Near-Earth asteroid Bennu is a rubble pile of rocks and boulders left over from the formation of the solar system. On October 20, 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly touched down on Bennu and collected a sample for return to Earth. During this “TAG event,” the spacecraft’s arm sank far deeper into the asteroid than expected, confirming that Bennu’s surface is incredibly weak. Now, scientists have used data from OSIRIS-REx to revisit the TAG event and better understand how Bennu’s loose upper layers are held together.

On September 25, 2135, the potentially-hazardous asteroid Bennu will make a close flyby of Earth. Our planet’s gravity will tweak Bennu’s path, making it a challenge to calculate its future trajectory. During the flyby, there is an extremely small chance that Bennu will pass through a “gravitational keyhole” – a region of space that would set it on just the right path to impact Earth, late in the 22nd century. Although it is difficult to determine the odds of this actually happening, new data from OSIRIS-REx have allowed scientists to better model how Bennu’s orbit will evolve over time, and to better calculate the probability of an impact.

It’s hard to imagine what the surface of a dark, distant asteroid might look like, but NASA’s "Tour of Asteroid Bennu" brings us on a journey to see this landscape up close. The video, which was released in October 2020, uses elevation data and high-resolution imagery from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to provide viewers with stunning 3D vistas of Bennu’s rugged terrain. Producer Dan Gallagher and data visualizer Kel Elkins discuss the making of the video, and how data-driven animation is enabling viewers to explore new worlds like Bennu.

After nearly five years in space, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. On Monday, May 10, 2021 at 4:23 p.m. EDT the spacecraft fired its main engines full throttle for seven minutes – its most significant maneuver since it arrived at Bennu in 2018. This burn thrust the spacecraft away from the asteroid at 600 miles per hour (nearly 1,000 kilometers per hour), setting it on a 2.5-year cruise towards Earth. After orbiting the Sun twice, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is due to reach Earth Sept. 24, 2023. Upon return, the capsule containing pieces of Bennu will separate from the rest of the spacecraft and enter Earth’s atmosphere. The capsule will parachute to the Utah Test and Training Range in Utah’s West Desert, where scientists will be waiting to retrieve it.

OSIRIS-REx has imaged Bennu better than we have Earth and our own Moon. Since its arrival at the asteroid on December 3, 2018, the spacecraft has discovered boulders the size of buildings, and imaged the surface down to 5 centimeter per pixel resolution. Its onboard cameras captured stunning footage of the sample collection event on October 20, 2020. OSIRIS-REx imaged Bennu for the last time on April 7th, 2021, and will return to Earth in 2023 with samples it collected from the asteroid's surface.

A look back at OSIRIS-REx’s time at Asteroid Bennu starting with the Touch-and-Go (TAG) sample acquisition event from October 20th, 2020 and leading up to its departure from the asteroid on May 10th, 2021.

101955 Bennu is one of Earth’s closest planetary neighbors – an asteroid roughly the height of a skyscraper, and since late 2018, the place that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has called home. When OSIRIS-REx arrived on December 3, 2018, it began wrapping Bennu in a complex web of observations. OSIRIS-REx departed Bennu on May 10, 2021 on a return voyage to Earth, bringing with it over 60 grams of sample collected from the asteroid. This narrated video presents the mission’s complete trajectory during its time at Bennu.

At approximately 4:16 p.m. EDT on May 10th, 2021, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft fired its main thrusters for seven minutes and started its long journey home with more than 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of asteroid material in its Sample Return Capsule. NASA invited the public and the media to watch its first asteroid sample return mission leave Bennu and begin its cruise home on NASA TV and www.nasa.gov/live at 4 p.m. EDT.

Like boot prints on the Moon, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft left its mark on asteroid Bennu. Now, new images — taken during the spacecraft's final fly-over on April 7, 2021 — reveal the aftermath of the historic Touch-and-Go (TAG) sample acquisition event from October 20th, 2020.

Captured on Oct. 20, during the OSIRIS-REx mission’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event, this series of 82 images shows the SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA spacecraft approaches and touches down on asteroid Bennu’s surface. The sampling event brought the spacecraft all the way down to sample site Nightingale, and the team on Earth received confirmation of successful touchdown at 6:08 pm EDT. Preliminary data show the sampling head touched Bennu’s surface for approximately 6 seconds, after which the spacecraft performed a back-away burn.

NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, will make a daring attempt to “TAG” asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20 – touch its surface and collect a sample for return to Earth. Experience the sample collection event in 360 and watch as OSIRIS-REx contacts the rocky surface of sample site Nightingale on Asteroid Bennu.

NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, will make a daring attempt to “TAG” asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20 – touch its surface and collect a sample for return to Earth. Sample site Nightingale, the mission’s targeted touch down spot, is only a few parking spaces wide and surrounded by building-sized boulders that pose a hazard to OSIRIS-REx. The spacecraft will carefully navigate down to the sample site with its sampling arm extended and touch Bennu’s surface for several seconds. Upon contact, the collector head will fire a bottle of nitrogen gas to agitate loose material, which is then caught in the spacecraft’s collector head. After this brief touch, OSIRIS-REx will fire its thrusters to back away from Bennu, navigating to a safe distance from the asteroid. The spacecraft will depart Bennu in 2021 and deliver the sample to Earth on Sep. 24, 2023.

When NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid Bennu in December 2018, its close-up images confirmed what mission planners had predicted nearly two decades before: Bennu is made of loose material weakly clumped together by gravity, and shaped like a spinning top. This major validation, however, was accompanied by a major surprise. Scientists had expected Bennu’s surface to consist of fine-grained material like a sandy beach, but were instead greeted by a rugged world littered with boulders – the size of cars, the size of houses, the size of football fields. Now, thanks to laser altimetry data and high-resolution imagery from OSIRIS-REx, we can take a tour of Bennu’s remarkable terrain.

Movie trailer for the OSIRIS-REx Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event at asteroid Bennu, on October 20, 2020.

The OSIRIS-REx team has already pushed the boundaries of scientific exploration -- going from ground-based radar images from Arecibo in Puerto Rico all the way to orbiting a few hundred meters from asteroid Bennu. The team is mere days away from a sample collection attempt at the asteroid surface. Before this attempt, we take a look back at some of the major achievements, surprises and challenges of sampling an asteroid with OSIRIS-REx.

In an interplanetary faux pas, it appears some pieces of asteroid Vesta ended up on asteroid Bennu, according to observations from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The new result sheds light on the intricate orbital dance of asteroids and on the violent origin of Bennu, which is a “rubble pile” asteroid that coalesced from the fragments of a massive collision.

Since arriving at asteroid Bennu in Dec. 2018, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has achieved many feats – from setting a record-breaking orbit, to mapping the asteroid’s surface better than any planetary body. The mission is now preparing to collect a sample of Bennu, which will be the first time that NASA has gathered pieces of an asteroid. On Oct. 20, the OSIRIS-REx mission will perform the first attempt of its Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event. Not only will the spacecraft navigate to the surface using innovative navigation techniques, but it could also collect the largest sample since the Apollo missions. The spacecraft will deliver the sample to Earth on Sep. 24, 2023.

Natasha Cloud, a professional basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the WNBA, and Nayi Castro, a mission operations manager for NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission share how they prepare for a critical moment in their careers. For Natasha Cloud, it is about how the team starts a new season after winning a championship. For Nayi Castro, it is about the careful preparation for the OSIRIS-REx Touch-And-Go (TAG) maneuver that will seek to collect a sample from asteroid Bennu and return it back to Earth. The journey is challenging and pushes each person to sustain their efforts over a long period of time to reach their goals.

In late October, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will navigate to asteroid Bennu’s surface for its first sample collection attempt. To do this, it will use an onboard image software known as Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) – a form of optical navigation that is completely autonomous. NFT guides the spacecraft by comparing an onboard image catalog with the real-time navigation images it takes during descent, looking for specific landmarks on Bennu’s surface in order to orient itself. This navigation technique allows the spacecraft to accurately target small sites while dodging potential hazards.

University students and researchers working on a NASA mission orbiting a near-Earth asteroid have made an unexpected detection of a phenomenon 30 thousand light years away. Last fall, the student-built Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) onboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft detected a newly flaring black hole in the constellation Columba while making observations off the limb of asteroid Bennu. The glowing object turned out to be a newly flaring black hole X-ray binary – discovered just a week earlier by Japan’s MAXI telescope – designated MAXI J0637-430.

This narrated video examines asteroid Bennu's unexpectedly rough and rocky surface, and the selection of sample site Nightingale from among four candidate sites. Laser altimetry data and high-resolution images from OSIRIS-REx were used to make this video's 3D visualizations of Bennu, site Nightingale, and the other candidate sample collection sites.

This episode of NASA Science Live is broadcasting live from AGU in San Francisco. We have breaking news on our satellite OSIRIS-REx which is orbiting an asteroid named Bennu - and some of its mineral fragments could be older than the solar system itself. These microscopic grains of dust could be the same ones that spewed from dying stars and eventually came together to make the Sun and its planets nearly 4.6 billion years ago. And today we'll announce the site where OSIRIS-REx will attempt to collect at least 30 sugar packets worth of dirt and rocks from Bennu's surface.

On September 8, 2016 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, OSIRIS-REx began its journey – the most ambitious sample collection mission since the Apollo Program. After two years, the spacecraft arrived at its destination, asteroid Bennu. As OSIRIS-REx drew near, Bennu grew in detail from a few tiny pixels to a surprisingly rugged world, littered with giant boulders. The spacecraft has used its instrumentation to map the asteroid from all sides. The science team has been analyzing the data to select the best sample site. Now, with just months to go before sample collection, the team has narrowed its target down to four potential sites: Osprey, Kingfisher, Nightingale, and Sandpiper.

The OSIRIS-REx team has already pushed the boundaries of scientific exploration - going from ground-based radar images from Arecibo in Puerto Rico all the way to orbiting a few hundred meters from asteroid Bennu. The team is mere months away from a sample collection attempt at the asteroid surface. Before this attempt, we take a look back at some of the major achievements, surprises, and challenges of sampling an asteroid with OSIRIS-REx.

On December 31, 2018, OSIRIS-REx completed its Preliminary Survey of asteroid Bennu and entered into orbit. Bennu measures only half a kilometer in diameter, making it the smallest world ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx spent the Orbital A phase learning to navigate in Bennu’s low gravity, which must be balanced against other small forces acting on the spacecraft (like solar radiation pressure), and it transitioned from stellar navigation to landmark-based navigation.

OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. Its goal is to explore near-Earth asteroid Bennu, a remnant from the dawn of the solar system, and return a sample of Bennu to Earth. This video illustrates the OSIRIS-REx mission design in detail, through artist concept animations, data visualizations, launch footage, and imagery from the spacecraft itself. Each phase of the mission is depicted, from launch through sample return, providing an in-depth look at this journey to Bennu and back.

Asteroids are the leftover building blocks of the solar system. These remnants from the dawn of planet formation may have delivered organics and water to early Earth, and could even hold clues to the origins of life. Now, a NASA mission called OSIRIS-REx has arrived at near-Earth asteroid Bennu. It will map and study the small body in great detail, and return a piece of Bennu to Earth in 2023. The discoveries of OSIRIS-REx will shed light on our solar system’s ancient history, and help pave the way for future exploration of other small bodies.

This animated feature takes a fun look at how asteroid Bennu was chosen as the target for the OSIRIS-REx mission. Starting in 2008, from a field of over 500,000 known asteroids, scientists went through a process to narrow the choices down to 5 final candidates. The selection criteria was based on an asteroid’s proximity to Earth, its orbit and size, and its chemical composition. Bennu is a B-type asteroid with an approximately 500-meter diameter. It completes an orbit around the Sun every 436.604 days (1.2 years) and every 6 years it comes very close to Earth, within 0.002 AU. Bennu’s size, primitive composition, and potentially hazardous orbit make it one of the most fascinating and accessible near-Earth objects, and the ideal target for the OSIRIS-REx mission.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission launched in September 2016 and arrived at asteroid Bennu in December 2018. OSIRIS-REx will help unveil the mysteries of our solar system's formation.

To get to asteroid Bennu, OSIRIS-REx first needed to leave the plane of Earth's orbit and match the orbital tilt of its target. On September 22, 2017, OSIRIS-REx approached Earth and flew over its southern hemisphere, passing within 11,000 miles of Antarctica. This gravitational slingshot bent its trajectory by six degrees, sending the spacecraft on a path to intercept Bennu.

On September 8, 2016, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft began its journey to near-Earth asteroid Bennu. As the sun began to set over Cape Canaveral, OSIRIS-REx made a picture-perfect liftoff from pad 41 aboard an Atlas V rocket, cheered on by crowds of mission personnel and space enthusiasts. This video revisits the launch with interviews and highlights from Kennedy Space Center, as OSIRIS-REx continues its seven-year journey to Bennu and back.

Trojan asteroids accompany several of our solar system's planets, leading or trailing the planet in its orbit at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points. Detecting our own planet's Trojan asteroids from Earth is difficult because they appear close to the sun from our perspective. In mid-February 2017, NASA's OSIRS-REx mission will search for these elusive objects when the spacecraft passes by Earth's L4 Lagrange point, en route to asteroid Bennu in 2018.

OSIRIS-REx launched Thursday, September 8 at 7:05PM on an Atlas V rocket on a journey to study asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth. Thousands of visitors watched the launch, some of whom were part of a NASA Social event.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on a mission to explore asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth. The OSIRIS-REx launch window opens on September 8, 2016, when the spacecraft begins its two-year journey to Bennu aboard an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida. After arriving at Bennu in 2018, OSIRIS-REx will spend over a year exploring the asteroid before approaching its surface to grab a sample. This pristine material, formed at the dawn of the solar system, will be returned to Earth in 2023, providing clues to Bennu's origins and our own.

NASA's latest New Frontiers mission, OSIRIS-REx, will venture to a near-Earth asteroid to discover clues about the unique resources asteroids hold, processes that affect asteroids' orbital paths and their potential for impacting Earth, and the origins of life in the solar system. In addition, OSIRIS-REx will collect a sample from the surface of the asteroid and return it to Earth for generations of scientists to study and analyze, making this the first American asteroid sample return mission and the largest sample returned from an extraterrestrial body since Apollo. OSIRIS-REx's launch window opens September 8, 2016. This is the journey #ToBennuAndBack.

The OSIRIS-REx mission, launching in September 2016, is designed 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.

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.

The OSIRIS-REx mission is on a journey to study asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth. The OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) will provide a three-dimensional map of the asteroid's shape, which will allow scientists to understand the context of the asteroid's geography and the sample location. OLA is provided by the Canadian Space Agency in exchange for Canadian ownership of a portion of the returned asteroid sample.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 letterboxed and a 16 x 9 cropped format.

The solar system today is an orderly place, much quieter than it was in its turbulent youth. How did our Sun, the Earth and the planets evolve from a whirlpool of gas, dust, and fiery droplets of molten rock? To answer this question, scientists on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission are studying near-Earth asteroid Bennu, which is composed of the same raw ingredients that created the planets. Bennu is a survivor of our solar system's early chaos, and following its journey will teach us a great deal about our own origins. This video is the official teaser for Bennu's Journey, a signature animated movie for NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission.

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 retrieve a sample of asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth. 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.

OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s mission to near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Its primary science goal is to collect a sample of Bennu and return it to Earth. This video provides an early overview of the OSIRIS-REx mission.

In mid-February 2013, the forty-five-meter-wide asteroid Duende passed within 28,000 kilometers of Earth – the closest approach on record for an object of this size. Although such Near-Earth Objects (NEO’s) cross our planet’s orbit on a regular basis, only a small fraction of them are large enough to pose a threat. One of these is asteroid Bennu, a “leftover” from the formation of our solar system. In an effort to better understand NEO’s – and our planet’s own origins – NASA is sending the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to Bennu and back.

The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft arrived at near-Earth asteroid Bennu in December 2018. After studying the asteroid for nearly two years, the spacecraft successfully performed a Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection maneuver on October 20, 2020. The change in surface topography as a result of the sample collection maneuver is observed by comparing pre-TAG and post-TAG digital terrain models (DTM), revealing the newly-formed TAG crater.

On September 25, 2135, the potentially-hazardous asteroid Bennu will make a close flyby of Earth. Our planet’s gravity will tweak Bennu’s path, making it a challenge to calculate its future trajectory. This page provides data visualizations of Bennu's orbit during the 2135 close encounter, and two possible orbits in 2182 — when the asteroid will have an extremely small chance of impacting Earth.

The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security - Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft arrived at near-Earth asteroid Bennu in December 2018. After studying the asteroid for nearly two years, the spacecraft successfully performed a Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection maneuver on October 20, 2020. The spacecraft will remain in asteroid Bennu’s vicinity until May 10, when the mission will enter its Return Cruise phase and begin its two-year journey back to Earth. This data visualization presents the mission’s complete trajectory during its time at Bennu.

This media resource page provides data visualizations of the OSIRIS-REx Touch-And-Go (TAG) event. The spacecraft's nominal trajectory is depicted, starting with the orbit departure maneuver, through the Checkpoint and Matchpoint engine burns down to the surface of Bennu for TAG, and finishing with the back-away engine burn.

This media resource page provides data visualizations from the produced video Tour of Asteroid Bennu. Some of Bennu's most remarkable surface features are presented in vivid detail, using terrain data from the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) and high-resolution imagery from the OSIRIS-REx PolyCam instrument.

This media resource page provides detailed global views of asteroid Bennu, generated from spacecraft data. The 3D animations on this page were created using laser altimetry data and imagery of Bennu taken by OSIRIS-REx. These animations are updates to older versions on the page below, and are rendered with higher spatial resolution and more accurate lighting.

This media resource page provides views of asteroid Bennu generated from spacecraft data – including a global model of Bennu, close-ups of its northern and southern hemispheres, and a close-up of its equatorial regions. These 3D animations were created using laser altimetry data and imagery of Bennu taken by OSIRIS-REx.

This media resource page provides flyovers of the four candidate sample collection sites on asteroid Bennu. These animations are updates to older versions on the page below. The new versions depict the candidate sample sites in 3D, using laser altimetry data and imagery of Bennu taken by OSIRIS-REx. The animations are available in Hyperwall resolution (5760 x 3240).

This media resource page provides views of the four candidate sample collection sites on asteroid Bennu. The main science goal of OSIRIS-REx is to collect a sample of Bennu for return to Earth. In mid-2019, mission planners identified four candidate sample collection sites, and named them after birds that can be found in Egypt: Osprey, Kingfisher, Nightingale, and Sandpiper. In December 2019, they announced Nightingale as the primary sample collection site, and Osprey as the backup.

OSIRIS-REx arrived at asteroid Bennu on December 3, 2018. This media resource page shows the spacecraft’s view of Bennu during the final phase of its journey to the asteroid. Images from the PolyCam camera provide a short movie of approach and arrival, and a short movie of Bennu rotating.

In order to study asteroid Bennu, OSIRIS-REx had to navigate through a suite of complex orbits, maneuvers, and mapping campaigns – carried out in the asteroid’s remarkably low gravity. This media resource page provides trajectory animations for the spacecraft during its time at Bennu, as well as cruise animations for the journey to Bennu and back.

NASA hosted a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, to discuss an important finding from NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx spent over two years studying near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Now, scientists have used its data to better calculate Bennu's small probability of impacting Earth, late in the 22nd century.

NASA hosted a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020, to provide an update on the status of the agency’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft and the mission’s work to safely stow the sample it collected from asteroid Bennu. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a dramatic six-second touch of Bennu on Oct. 20, and video indicated a significant number of particles were agitated on Bennu’s surface and collected in the spacecraft’s Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) collector head. Over the following days, the team worked ahead of schedule to stow the primordial cargo for return to Earth in September 2023.

NASA hosted a press briefing on Oct. 21, 2020, to unveil new videos of the OSIRIS-REx sample collection attempt. This page provides graphics from the press briefing.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft unfurled its robotic arm on Oct. 20, and in a first for the agency, briefly touched an asteroid to collect dust and pebbles from the surface for delivery to Earth in 2023.

NASA hosted a media teleconference at 3 p.m. EDT Monday, Oct. 20, 2020, to provide an update on the agency’s first attempt to contact the surface of asteroid Bennu and collect a sample. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will travel to the asteroid’s surface during its first sample collection attempt Oct. 20. Its sampling mechanism will touch Bennu’s surface for several seconds, fire a charge of pressurized nitrogen to disturb the surface, and collect a sample before the spacecraft backs away.

NASA’s OSRIS-REx mission is designed to study near-Earth asteroid Bennu and return a sample of Bennu to Earth in 2023. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was built and is operated by Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. This editor’s resource page provides interview clips with mission personnel at Lockheed Martin Space, filmed on August 12, 2020 – one day after the Matchpoint rehearsal to prepare for sample collection at Bennu.

NASA hosted a media teleconference at 3 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, to provide an update on the agency’s first attempt to contact the surface of asteroid Bennu and collect a sample next month.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will travel to the asteroid’s surface during its first sample collection attempt Oct. 20. Its sampling mechanism will touch Bennu’s surface for several seconds, fire a charge of pressurized nitrogen to disturb the surface, and collect a sample before the spacecraft backs away.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission announced its primary and backup sample collection sites on asteroid Bennu, at a press conference hosted during AGU’s Fall Meeting at 2 p.m. ET, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019.

NASA hosted a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 19, 2019, to announce new science from the agency’s first mission to return to Earth an asteroid sample that may contain unaltered material from the very beginning of our solar system.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission presented the science results gained during the spacecraft’s approach toward the asteroid Bennu at a press conference hosted during AGU’s Fall Meeting at 2 p.m. ET, Monday, Dec. 10, 2018.

Interviews with personnel from the OSIRIS-REx mission, edited for social media.

On Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, Earth's gravity provided a slingshot for OSIRIS-REx to get to its target, a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. Scientists believe asteroids like Bennu may have seeded Earth with the organic compounds that made life possible.

This page provides interviews with NASA scientists discussing the Earth Gravity Assist, OSIRIS-REx, and its journey to Bennu and back.

Scientists:
Dr. Jim Garvin / NASA Goddard Chief Scientist

Dr. Christina Richey / OSIRIS-REx Deputy Program Scientist
Dr. Michelle Thaller/ NASA Scientist

This page provides interviews with NASA scientists recorded on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 – just hours before NASA’s FIRST-EVER asteroid sample return mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Find out why NASA is going to asteroid Bennu, and what mysteries it might unlock about how life started on Earth and whether life could have started elsewhere in our solar system.

Scientists:
Dr. Jim Green / Director, NASA Planetary Science Division
Dr. Ellen Stofan / NASA Chief Scientist
Dr. Jim Garvin / NASA Goddard Chief Scientist
Dr. Lucy McFadden / NASA Scientist
Dr. Geronimo Villanueva/ NASA Scientist [Interviews in Spanish]

This resource page contains interviews with various OSIRIS-REx mission personnel:

Dante Lauretta / OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator
Jason Dworkin / OSIRIS-REx Project Scientist
Tim Haltigin / OSIRIS-REx Canadian Mission Manager

Supporting graphics for the OSIRIS-REx L-2 science briefing at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 6, 2016.

Supporting graphics for the OSIRIS-REx L-2 pre-launch briefing at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 6, 2016.

Supporting graphics for the OSIRIS-REx L-14 press briefing at NASA headquarters on Aug. 17, 2016.