WEBVTT FILE 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.