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First NASA Asteroid Sample Return Mission on Track for Fall ’23 Delivery
October 17, 2022 -NASA's first asteroid sample return spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, fired its thrusters for 30 seconds on Sept. 21 and nudged its trajectory toward Earth. The resulting course correction keeps the vehicle on track to deliver a sample of asteroid...
Some Asteroids ‘Aged Early’ by Sun, NASA Finds
July 25, 2022 -Scientists from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission recently learned that surface regeneration happens a lot quicker on asteroids than on Earth. By analyzing rock fractures on asteroid Bennu from high-resolution images taken by the...
NASA Reveals Surface of Asteroid Bennu is Like Plastic Ball Pit
July 8, 2022 -After analyzing data gathered when NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample from asteroid Bennu in October 2020, scientists have learned something astonishing: The spacecraft would have sunk into Bennu had it not fired...
NASA Spacecraft Observes Asteroid Bennu’s Boulder “Body Armor”
June 16, 2022 -Asteroid Bennu’s boulder-covered surface gives it protection against small meteoroid impacts, according to observations of craters by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith...
NASA gives green light for OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to visit another asteroid
April 25, 2022 -NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will swing by Earth to deliver a sample from asteroid Bennu on Sept. 24, 2023. But it won't clock out after that. NASA has extended the University of Arizona-led mission, which will be renamed...
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Team Receives 2022 John L. ‘Jack’ Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration
April 5, 2022 -NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission team received the 2022 John L. “Jack” Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration by the Space Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for space exploration and...
NASA Mission Helps Solve a Mystery: Why Are Some Asteroid Surfaces Rocky?
October 23, 2021 -Summary: Using data from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, a University of Arizona-led team of scientists concluded that asteroids with highly porous rocks like Bennu should lack fine-grained material on their surfaces. Scientists thought...
NASA Spacecraft Provides Insight into Asteroid Bennu’s Future Orbit
August 11, 2021 -In a study released Wednesday, NASA researchers used precision-tracking data from the agency’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft to better understand movements...
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Heads for Earth with Asteroid Sample
May 12, 2021 -After nearly five years in space, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust from the near-Earth...
WATCH: OSIRIS-REx will Begin Return to Earth
May 7, 2021 -NASA invites the public and the media to watch its first asteroid sample return mission begin a two-year cruise home at 4 p.m. EDT Monday, May 10, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. The public can follow along...