NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Begins Asteroid Operations Campaign

After an almost two-year journey, NASA’s asteroid sampling spacecraft, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx), caught its first glimpse of asteroid Bennu last week and began the final approach toward its target. Kicking off the mission’s asteroid operations campaign on Aug. 17, the spacecraft’s PolyCam camera obtained the image from a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km).

OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid, survey the surface, collect a sample and deliver it safely back to Earth. The spacecraft has traveled approximately 1.1 billion miles (1.8 billion km) since its Sept. 8, 2016, launch and is scheduled to arrive at Bennu on Dec. 3.

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Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

On Aug. 17, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft obtained the first images of its target asteroid Bennu from a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km), or almost six times the distance between the Earth and Moon. This cropped set of five images was obtained by the PolyCam camera over the course of an hour for calibration purposes and in order to assist the mission’s navigation team with optical navigation efforts. Bennu is visible as a moving object against the stars in the constellation Serpens.

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission launched in 2016 and now (August, 2018) is entering its approach phase.

OSIRIS-REx will arrive at asteroid Bennu in December, 2018. OSIRIS-REx will help unveil the mysteries of our solar system's formation

This (silent) animation shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft deploying its Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) to collect a sample of regolith (loose rocks and dirt) from the surface of asteroid Bennu.

The sampler head, with the regolith safely inside, is then sealed up in the spacecraft's Sample Return Capsule, which will be returned to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023. Scientists will study the sample for clues about the early solar system and the origins of life.

OSIRIS-REx Using Earth as Slingshot to Get to Asteroid Bennu.