WEBVTT FILE 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.