1 00:00:00,020 --> 00:00:04,040 [slate] 2 00:00:04,060 --> 00:00:08,070 [slate] 3 00:00:08,090 --> 00:00:12,130 So OSIRIS-REx is 4 00:00:12,150 --> 00:00:16,220 a robotic mission of discovery that will be the first-ever to intercept a small 5 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:20,350 asteroid, about five football fields across, that we think contains some of the chemistry 6 00:00:20,370 --> 00:00:24,530 the building blocks that seeded the early Earth. And those could 7 00:00:24,550 --> 00:00:28,600 include molecules that we call organic molecules with carbon. We're going to 8 00:00:28,620 --> 00:00:32,690 match velocities with this asteroid, rendezvous with it, map it with a 9 00:00:32,710 --> 00:00:36,820 reconnaissance level that's been unseen for these small bodies 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:41,010 and then carefully select a sample and return that to Earth for the laboratories 11 00:00:41,030 --> 00:00:45,060 to study for generations to come. This is a true mission of discovery. 12 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,070 [slate] 13 00:00:49,090 --> 00:00:53,130 So OSIRIS-REx has been flying for 14 00:00:53,150 --> 00:00:57,210 about a year to vendezous with the asteroid known as Bennu. But to get there 15 00:00:57,230 --> 00:01:01,310 it has to do a slight tweak in its passage around 16 00:01:01,330 --> 00:01:05,450 the sun, by about six degrees and we're going to use good old mother Earth 17 00:01:05,470 --> 00:01:09,640 by flying close to her to just cause the 18 00:01:09,660 --> 00:01:13,710 satellite to pivot a bit as it flies under Antarctica about 11,000 miles 19 00:01:13,730 --> 00:01:17,800 above the Earth and give it the little nudge 20 00:01:17,820 --> 00:01:21,980 to slingshot, to get it to just the right place to match its orbit 21 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:26,030 with Bennu and allow it to go into a rendezvous stage where it can map Bennu 22 00:01:26,050 --> 00:01:30,050 and then prepare for its sampling events. 23 00:01:30,070 --> 00:01:34,080 [slate] 24 00:01:34,100 --> 00:01:38,170 Bennu is really exciting because A we can get 25 00:01:38,190 --> 00:01:42,280 there. B because we see evidence from telescopic observations 26 00:01:42,300 --> 00:01:46,430 that it contains these magically chemistries that we think 27 00:01:46,450 --> 00:01:50,490 were very important seeding early Earth with the stuff that may have started 28 00:01:50,510 --> 00:01:54,550 life. Organic chemistry. So by going to one of these 29 00:01:54,570 --> 00:01:58,630 types of asteroids and getting to know them, mapping them in exquisite detail 30 00:01:58,650 --> 00:02:02,770 with inferred cameras and lasers and those types 31 00:02:02,790 --> 00:02:06,950 of instruments and then sampling it. Bringing material then back to 32 00:02:06,970 --> 00:02:11,020 Earth to be picked apart with the forensic tools, the magic of modern 33 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,120 science is a phenomenal opportunity 34 00:02:15,140 --> 00:02:19,250 to see that missing record in our Earth history that only these kinds of objects can fill in. 35 00:02:19,270 --> 00:02:23,270 [slate] 36 00:02:23,290 --> 00:02:27,330 So on July 4th 2020 37 00:02:27,350 --> 00:02:31,400 the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will slowly back in 38 00:02:31,420 --> 00:02:35,510 to the asteroid Bennu in the spot chosen before and with its long arm 39 00:02:35,530 --> 00:02:39,680 with a circular disk that acts like a vacuum cleaner, it will sample 40 00:02:39,700 --> 00:02:43,730 up to a couple of pounds of material from the primitive object. Never before 41 00:02:43,750 --> 00:02:47,790 touched by humanity. And in doing so it will collect the samples 42 00:02:47,810 --> 00:02:51,880 encapsulate them in a capsule, a space capsule then 43 00:02:51,900 --> 00:02:56,020 return to Earth for landing near the great Salt Lake in Utah 44 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:00,210 and then those samples will be carefully unpackaged, all very carefully and safely 45 00:03:00,230 --> 00:03:04,300 and then made available for study in all the laboratories around the 46 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,410 world. For forensic science at its best filling in those missing 47 00:03:08,430 --> 00:03:12,440 pages of the early time of our solar system. 48 00:03:12,460 --> 00:03:16,460 [slate] 49 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,640 OSIRIS-REx to me is the perfect kind of mission. 50 00:03:20,660 --> 00:03:24,700 of discovery that many of us have dreamt of. I mean we saw Apollo 51 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,790 the men walking on the moon returning samples, but doing this all robotically 52 00:03:28,810 --> 00:03:32,940 in a place that would be very hard to send women or men kind of 53 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,130 makes it all very real. And for me personally I've watched this mission since it was first proposed 54 00:03:37,150 --> 00:03:41,210 through these Olympic style competitions for science and engineering 55 00:03:41,230 --> 00:03:45,310 As it came to grow up and become the mission that it is 56 00:03:45,330 --> 00:03:49,480 flying and be actually be selected for flight by NASA 57 00:03:49,500 --> 00:03:53,480 is an incredibly exciting time. For me personally I'm fascinated by cosmic collisions 58 00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:57,570 asteroids make cosmic collisions. Going to capture the bits of 59 00:03:57,590 --> 00:04:01,660 one before they cosmically collide with anything is kind of as good as 60 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,800 gets. So I am just literally dazzled 61 00:04:05,820 --> 00:04:09,990 by the possibilities of this mission and I can't wait for its samples to literally inspire 62 00:04:10,010 --> 00:04:14,020 generations of future scientists to come. 63 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:18,040 [slate] 64 00:04:18,060 --> 00:04:22,240 To learn more about this mission and all of our voyagers of scientific exploration 65 00:04:22,260 --> 00:04:26,300 please go to www.nasa.gov/osiris 66 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:30,400 rex. There's also a link for Twitter where we can follow 67 00:04:30,420 --> 00:04:34,540 the action of the spacecraft and please go and follow the 68 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,720 links to all the fascinating science that we're ready to do when OSIRIS-REx 69 00:04:38,740 --> 00:04:41,428 brings home its bounty.