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If you want to study a piece of the early solar system in a lab on Earth, what do you do?

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To better understand the evolution of our solar system,

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NASA is sending the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer,

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or OSIRIS-REx, to study a Near Earth asteroid called Bennu.

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OSIRIS-REx will launch in 2016 and arrive at Bennu in 2018,

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where it will spend over a year surveying the asteroid in unprecedented detail,

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determining its chemical makeup, mineralogy, and geologic history.

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The OSIRIS-REx payload contains several instruments for remote sensing observations,

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including high resolution cameras, LIDAR, and X-ray, visible light, and infrared spectrometers.

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Knowing the physical properties of Bennu will help scientists to refine its orbit over time,

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including deviations caused by heating and cooling from sunlight,

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and it will allow them to pick a site for OSIRIS-REx's primary mission:

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retrieving a sample of the asteroid for study on Earth.

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In 2019, OSIRIS-REx will deploy its Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism,

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or TAGSAM, and slowly approach the sample site.

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When the TAGSAM touches the surface it will release a burst of nitrogen gas,

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causing loose rocks and soil to flow into the collector.

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Since Bennu may be rich in organic material or water left over from the formation of the solar system,

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sampling it could reveal whether the building blocks of life were present at that time,

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perhaps providing clues to the origins of life itself.

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After moving away from the surface, OSIRIS-REx will perform a spin maneuver to measure the mass of the sample,

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then it will carefully stow the TAGSAM head inside the Sample Return Capsule and prepare for the journey back to Earth.

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Upon arriving home in 2023, OSIRIS-REx will release the sample,

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giving us a piece of the ancient solar system that will be studied for decades to come.

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OSIRIS-REx is a joint project of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory,

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,

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and Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado.

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Dante Lauretta is the mission's Principal Investigator at the University of Arizona.

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