The public is encouraged to join a “Getting to Know Goddard” virtual session about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Learn how OSIRIS-REx descended to asteroid Bennu’s boulder-strewn surface, touched down for a few seconds to collect a sample of the asteroid’s rocks and dust – marking the first time NASA has grabbed pieces of an asteroid, which will be returned to Earth for study.
During this maneuver on Oct. 20, OSIRIS-REx’s sampling mechanism touched Bennu’s surface for several seconds, fired a charge of pressurized nitrogen to disturb the surface and collect a sample before the spacecraft backed away. The spacecraft is scheduled to return the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
This video is public domain and can be downloaded from Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
On Oct. 27, 2020, from 1 to 2 p.m. EDT, the public can virtually tune into a live “Getting to Know Goddard” session about the OSIRIS-REx Touch-And-Go sample collection event. The one-hour online event features Jason Dworkin, a project scientist for the OSIRIS-REx mission, and Amy Simon, an instrument scientist for OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer. Both are from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The session will be broadcast and available free to the public at: https://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-gsfc.
When the sample comes back, it will be stored at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
For more information about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
For more information about Jason Dworkin, visit: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/290/jason-dworkin/
For more information on Amy Simon, visit: https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/amy.a.simon
Deanna Trask/Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.