1 00:00:00,030 --> 00:00:04,030 [slate[ 2 00:00:04,050 --> 00:00:08,050 [slate] 3 00:00:08,070 --> 00:00:12,140 OSIRIS-REx is an incredibly 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:16,260 exciting mission to actually go out to an asteroid. So the spacecraft 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,420 is on it's way to an asteroid called Bennu. And Bennu is actually 6 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:24,610 a half a kilometer across. What's going to happen is that we're going to out to this asteroid 7 00:00:24,630 --> 00:00:28,700 and study it for more than a year and find a really, really great place to take a sample. 8 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,800 Now the scale of Bennu is about a half a kilometer across. So it's 9 00:00:32,820 --> 00:00:36,950 not the largest of the asteroids, but it's a pretty good sized one. And OSIRIS-REx will actually 10 00:00:36,970 --> 00:00:41,010 orbiting around it and then taking a sample and eventually returning that sample to Earth. 11 00:00:41,030 --> 00:00:45,050 [slate] 12 00:00:45,070 --> 00:00:49,100 So there's a very exciting thing happening 13 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:53,160 a little bit before 1:00 p.m. Eastern daylight time today and that is that the satellite 14 00:00:53,180 --> 00:00:57,280 is actually on a path to get on a close approach around the Earth and 15 00:00:57,300 --> 00:01:01,440 it's actually go closest approach about 11,000 miles over Antarctica and the 16 00:01:01,460 --> 00:01:05,470 gravity of the Earth is actually going to slingshot the spacecraft around. And 17 00:01:05,490 --> 00:01:09,520 the important thing about this is this is get us at the right angle to actually approach and eventually 18 00:01:09,540 --> 00:01:13,600 encounter the asteroid. So this is something that saves us time as well as rocket 19 00:01:13,620 --> 00:01:17,700 fuel to get out to the asteroid using the Earth's own gravity to alter 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,750 the path and slingshot us to the asteroid. 21 00:01:21,770 --> 00:01:25,940 [slate] 22 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:30,010 Well the thing that is so intriguing to me about asteroids is that they really are time capsules. 23 00:01:30,030 --> 00:01:34,060 They actually are samples of what the solar system was like billions of years ago. 24 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,140 Asteroids are small bodies that never got made into something big like a planet. 25 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,260 So anything that made into a planet, got melted down, got changed. 26 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,430 There were lots of things that went on. Asteroids are pristine. Nothing 27 00:01:46,450 --> 00:01:50,510 altered them for billions of years. So when you go out and take a sample 28 00:01:50,530 --> 00:01:54,630 of an asteroid you have in your hands a real sample of what the solar system 29 00:01:54,650 --> 00:01:58,750 was like billions of years ago. What were the conditions, what was the chemistry like? 30 00:01:58,770 --> 00:02:02,960 What can you learn about the formation of our own planet and our selves by looking at what the solar system 31 00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:07,040 was like billions of years ago. And this sample is incredibly 32 00:02:07,060 --> 00:02:11,080 scientific important. I think people will be studying it for generations to come. 33 00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:15,100 [slate] 34 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:19,270 Well this is a really exciting day, we're looking forward to this. After 35 00:02:19,290 --> 00:02:23,350 orbiting around Bennu for more than a year we're going to select a site that actually looks good 36 00:02:23,370 --> 00:02:27,450 We're actually going to go down and do a little high five maneuver. Just kind of lightly 37 00:02:27,470 --> 00:02:31,590 touch the surface of this asteroid and there will be some vacuums basically that actually vacuum 38 00:02:31,610 --> 00:02:35,770 up material from the asteroid itself. We hope to get somewhere between 60 grams and 39 00:02:35,790 --> 00:02:39,820 up to a kilogram and then that material will be put in a capsule 40 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,920 and actually sent back to Earth. It'll parachute through our atmosphere and land somewhere near 41 00:02:43,940 --> 00:02:48,070 the great Salt Lake of Utah. So this is actually our chance to get our hands on 42 00:02:48,090 --> 00:02:52,240 a real sample of the early solar system. It'll be hopefully the largest 43 00:02:52,260 --> 00:02:56,270 sample return since the Apollo program ended in the 1972. 44 00:02:56,290 --> 00:03:00,300 [slate] 45 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,390 Well for me I have to say its that 46 00:03:04,410 --> 00:03:08,520 what was the solar system like. One of the more intriguing possibilities is 47 00:03:08,540 --> 00:03:12,690 that asteroids actually brought things like water and organic chemistry, the chemistry 48 00:03:12,710 --> 00:03:16,740 that we're based on to Earth in the first place. So when you go out and see 49 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:20,830 what it was like billions of years ago, is that going to give us a better window into how 50 00:03:20,850 --> 00:03:24,950 we got here. How life started on Earth. Are some of the chemicals 51 00:03:24,970 --> 00:03:29,140 in your body, some of the water in your body today did they originally get delivered to Earth 52 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:33,200 by asteroids? Asteroids may be a lot closer to you than you think. 53 00:03:33,220 --> 00:03:37,290 They may not be just rocks that are millions of miles away, you may have a little bit of asteroid 54 00:03:37,310 --> 00:03:41,420 material in you right now and I really want to know more about that story. 55 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,450 [slate] 56 00:03:45,470 --> 00:03:49,600 Well to find out more about all the ways that NASA studies 57 00:03:49,620 --> 00:03:53,670 asteroids, find out about this mission, about when we're going to do our sample return to go 58 00:03:53,690 --> 00:03:56,717 www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex.