WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.004
Two years ago, in September
2016. OSIRIS-REx launched...

2
00:00:04.004 --> 00:00:06.206
[rocket engine burn]
>>ANNOUNCER’S VOICE: And liftoff

3
00:00:06.206 --> 00:00:09.843
of OSIRIS-REx! [cheering] Oh my
gosh! Woo! ...NASA’s first

4
00:00:09.843 --> 00:00:12.479
mission to go collect a sample
from an asteroid and return it

5
00:00:12.479 --> 00:00:16.516
to Earth. Now it’s August of
2018. and OSIRIS-REx is finally

6
00:00:16.516 --> 00:00:20.087
approaching its target, asteroid
Bennu. [music starts] What is

7
00:00:20.087 --> 00:00:23.924
the approach phase of the
OSIRIS-REx mission? The approach

8
00:00:23.924 --> 00:00:29.863
phase is when we reach about two
million kilometers from the

9
00:00:29.863 --> 00:00:33.233
asteroid Bennu. You know we’ve
been approaching Bennu ever

10
00:00:33.233 --> 00:00:35.903
since we launched, but once we
reach this period where we’re

11
00:00:35.903 --> 00:00:39.540
about two million kilomters
away, that’s when our cameras

12
00:00:39.540 --> 00:00:44.378
can start to pick up Bennu and
see it as a single pixel in the

13
00:00:44.378 --> 00:00:46.780
image. So what will you be doing
throughout this approach phase?

14
00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:49.049
Sure, so I’m part of the flight
dynamics team, and we’re

15
00:00:49.049 --> 00:00:52.886
responsible for navigating the
spacecraft. During the approach

16
00:00:52.886 --> 00:00:55.856
phase, we’ll figure out our best
estimate of where the spacecraft

17
00:00:55.856 --> 00:00:58.792
is relative to the asteroid and
also where the asteroid is

18
00:00:58.792 --> 00:01:01.662
relative to the rest of the
solar system. And during this

19
00:01:01.662 --> 00:01:04.865
phase, will you be looking out
for any sort of hazards around

20
00:01:04.865 --> 00:01:07.701
the asteroid, like little moons
or dust? Yeah absolutely. We

21
00:01:07.701 --> 00:01:10.370
have specific science
observation campaigns where

22
00:01:10.370 --> 00:01:13.440
they’ll be looking for small
satellite possibilities or

23
00:01:13.440 --> 00:01:17.411
activity on the asteroid. So
Lori, I know your background is

24
00:01:17.411 --> 00:01:21.181
planetary science. As a
planetary scientist, how excited

25
00:01:21.181 --> 00:01:24.251
are you about the OSIRIS-REx
mission and about bringing a

26
00:01:24.251 --> 00:01:27.621
sample of an asteroid back for
the first time for NASA? This is

27
00:01:27.621 --> 00:01:30.424
incredibly exciting. The
asteroids are the building

28
00:01:30.424 --> 00:01:33.527
blocks of the solar system,
that’s what built and made up

29
00:01:33.527 --> 00:01:36.663
our planets. They possibly carry
the building blocks, the

30
00:01:36.663 --> 00:01:40.801
molecules that could lead to
life. But even more than that,

31
00:01:40.801 --> 00:01:44.871
most of our missions we send a
satellite to go orbit a planet

32
00:01:44.871 --> 00:01:48.642
or maybe a lander to go land on
the surface. But they stay there

33
00:01:48.642 --> 00:01:52.045
and do their science at that
location. OSIRIS-REx is going to

34
00:01:52.045 --> 00:01:56.116
grab a sample and bring it back
to Earth. And that is really

35
00:01:56.116 --> 00:02:01.088
special and unique. We can not
only analyze that sample today,

36
00:02:01.088 --> 00:02:04.124
but then we can save that sample
and as our knowledge grows in

37
00:02:04.124 --> 00:02:07.527
the future and as our laboratory
capabilities grow in the future,

38
00:02:07.527 --> 00:02:10.664
we can go back and reanalyze
that sample. It will be there

39
00:02:10.664 --> 00:02:14.434
for us to keep learning from for
years and years, decades and

40
00:02:14.434 --> 00:02:17.938
decades to come. OSIRIS-REx will
arrive at Bennu in December of

41
00:02:17.938 --> 00:02:21.041
this year, 2018, and then it
will spend the next year and a

42
00:02:21.041 --> 00:02:24.811
half studying the asteroid. In
July of 2020, OSIRIS-REx will

43
00:02:24.811 --> 00:02:27.314
collect a sample from the
surface of Bennu, and then it

44
00:02:27.314 --> 00:02:31.184
will deliver that sample to
Earth in 2023. So stay tuned

45
00:02:31.184 --> 00:02:33.620
over the next several months and
years to learn about the

46
00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:36.757
spacecraft’s progress in helping
us unveil the mysteries of our

47
00:02:36.757 --> 00:02:39.026
solar system’s formation.

48
00:02:39.026 --> 00:02:42.362
[OSIRIS- REx logo]

49
00:02:42.362 --> 00:02:45.499
[satellite swooshes by, beep
beep, beep beep, beep beep]

50
00:02:45.499 --> 00:00:00.000
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
www.nasa.gov/goddard