NASA Osiris-Rex Mission Launches Towards Asteroid Bennu

Yesterday the NASA Osiris-Rex mission launched without a hitch. This mission is heading to an asteroid called Bennu with plans to take a sample of the asteroid and return it to Earth for study. Osiris-REx is an acronym, which is no surprise when you consider how famous NASA is for acronym names. The name stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.

The reason the Bennu asteroid was chosen is because it and asteroids of its type are remnants from the formation of the solar system over 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists believe that asteroids of this type were the source of water and organic molecules for early Earth and other planets. If the scientists get hands on an uncontaminated sample from one of these asteroids, they would be able to analyze it on Earth and get much more precise results than could be gleaned by spacecraft-based instrument.

Osiris-Rex launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 8:04 pm last night. NASA has confirmed that the solar arrays have deployed and are currently powering the spacecraft. "With today's successful launch, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft embarks on a journey of exploration to Bennu," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "I couldn't be more proud of the team that made this mission a reality, and I can't wait to see what we will discover at Bennu."

Osiris-REx is expected to approach Bennu in 2018 and begin study and mapping operations of the asteroid. In July of 2020, the spacecraft will reach out an 11-foot robotic arm to stir up surface material from the asteroid and collect at least two ounces of small rocks and dust to return to Earth. That return is expected to happen in September 2023. Osiris-REx is the spacecraft that is carrying artwork into space sent in by people via twitter.

SOURCE: NASA