WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:03.200 [slate] 2 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.210 [slate] 3 00:00:06.210 --> 00:00:09.400 Text on screen: What is OSIRIS-REx and where is it going? 4 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:12.460 OSIRIS-REx 5 00:00:12.460 --> 00:00:15.640 is a wonderfully exciting mission. We're actually going 6 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:18.710 out an asteroid. And the reason asteroids are so 7 00:00:18.710 --> 00:00:21.830 exciting is that they're actually a little bit of the early solar system. 8 00:00:21.830 --> 00:00:24.850 OSIRIS-REx is actually going to be flying around this asteroid 9 00:00:24.850 --> 00:00:27.880 doing a wonderful mapping mission over the course of a year. 10 00:00:27.880 --> 00:00:31.020 And the exciting thing about thing about this asteroid - as you can see 11 00:00:31.020 --> 00:00:34.070 it's about the size of a mountain or a very very large building. 12 00:00:34.070 --> 00:00:37.130 It's about half a kilometer across. 13 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:40.230 So we are actually going out to this asteroid and what's going on today 14 00:00:40.230 --> 00:00:43.330 is we are actually using the Earth's gravity to whip 15 00:00:43.330 --> 00:00:46.340 us into the right orbit to get there. 16 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:49.380 Text on screen: Earth's gravity will slingshot OSIRIS-REx to the asteroid. How does that work? 17 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:52.490 We're actually going to be sling shotting by the Earth, that''s 18 00:00:52.490 --> 00:00:55.610 our closest approach. And so what that means is OSIRIS-REx is 19 00:00:55.610 --> 00:00:58.650 going to be flying very close to our planet and the gravity of our planet 20 00:00:58.650 --> 00:01:01.680 is actually going to help deflect the spacecraft to get it at the right 21 00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:04.730 angle to intercept the asteriod. So this is something that actually saves 22 00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:07.770 us some rocket fuel. It also saves us some time. 23 00:01:07.770 --> 00:01:10.810 We're very clever because we can use the Earth's gravity to get to the 24 00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:13.830 place we need to go. 25 00:01:13.830 --> 00:01:16.860 Text on screen: Asteroids are time capsules from the beginning of our solar system. What's so exciting about this particular asteroid. 26 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:19.960 Well Bennu really is a relic of what the solar system was like 27 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:23.100 billions of years ago. So a long time ago there were 28 00:01:23.100 --> 00:01:26.210 these building blocks that got made into planets, but some of those little 29 00:01:26.210 --> 00:01:29.360 objects stayed around. A lot of those entered through 30 00:01:29.360 --> 00:01:32.400 the atmosphere of the Earth as meteorites. Bennu is 31 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.420 actually a chance to go and get a pristine sample. 32 00:01:35.420 --> 00:01:38.460 So we're going to be scanning the asteroid, finding a really good 33 00:01:38.460 --> 00:01:41.500 place to take a sample, then we're actually going to be returning 34 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:44.560 about 200 grams - sorry about 60 grams to about a kilogram - 35 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:47.640 worth of material from this asteroid. This will 36 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:50.750 actually be the largest sample returned since the Apollo program. 37 00:01:50.750 --> 00:01:53.840 And the thing that is so exciting about this to scientists is 38 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.950 while we have some samples of asteroids, called meteorites, these things 39 00:01:56.950 --> 00:01:59.970 have fallen through our atmosphere. The chemistry has changed, they've 40 00:01:59.970 --> 00:02:02.990 been heated up. By going to Bennu and taking a pristine sample 41 00:02:02.990 --> 00:02:06.030 of this we actually have a little bit of the solar system 42 00:02:06.030 --> 00:02:09.080 that is unchanged for billions of years. We can find out what 43 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:12.140 the chemistry was like, what the conditions were like 44 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:15.160 billions of years ago. 45 00:02:15.160 --> 00:02:18.320 Text on screen: What's it going to look like when NASA high-fives an asteroid to collect a sample. 46 00:02:18.320 --> 00:02:21.340 I am really look forward to this day. This is going to be a really exciting day coming up 47 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:24.360 in a couple of years where the OSIRIS-REx flies 48 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:27.390 very close to Bennu and sort of does what we call a high-five maneuver - 49 00:02:27.390 --> 00:02:30.440 kind of gives it a little smack and there's a little vacuum device 50 00:02:30.440 --> 00:02:33.490 that we hope is going to collect somewhere between 60 grams to a kilograms 51 00:02:33.490 --> 00:02:36.500 worth of material. That material is then put 52 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:39.570 in a capsule and that capsule is going to be sent back to Earth. 53 00:02:39.570 --> 00:02:42.660 So it will be sent back to Earth and parachute through our 54 00:02:42.660 --> 00:02:45.720 atmosphere. It will actually be landing somewhere in the Great Salt Lake 55 00:02:45.720 --> 00:02:48.850 of Utah. So this really is a sample of the 56 00:02:48.850 --> 00:02:51.880 early solar system coming back. And I believe scientists 57 00:02:51.880 --> 00:02:54.990 will be studying this sample, probably for generations. 58 00:02:54.990 --> 00:02:58.010 Text on screen: Where can we learn more? 59 00:02:58.010 --> 00:03:01.050 Well to find out 60 00:03:01.050 --> 00:03:04.110 more about OSIRIS-REx and all the different ways that we're studying the 61 00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:07.160 solar system you can actually go to nasa.gov/osirisrex. 62 00:03:07.160 --> 00:03:10.240 Find out what's going on today find out all 63 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:13.330 about the upcoming rendezvous with the asteroid and find out about the 64 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:17.147 plans to return a pristine sample of the early solar system.