NASA OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Post-Landing Briefing: What's Next?

NASA OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Post-Landing Briefing: What's Next?

Mission experts recap the touchdown of OSIRIS-REx on Sept. 24, 2023. The OSIRIS-REx capsule delivered America's first pristine sample of rocks and dust from an asteroid.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule, carrying a sample of asteroid Bennu, touched down on the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range at 10:52 a.m. EDT (14:52 UTC).

The OSIRIS-APEX mission will continue the discoveries of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at a second asteroid, Apophis. An hour after Apophis’s dramatic close approach to Earth on April 13, 2029, The OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft will use Earth’s gravity to put itself on a course to rendezvous with the asteroid to begin an 18-month campaign of investigation and discovery. Having already challenged our understanding of “carbonaceous” (C-complex) asteroids during its exploration of Bennu, the spacecraft instrument suite will provide first-of-its-kind high-resolution data of a “stony” (S-complex) asteroid—dramatically advancing our knowledge of this asteroid class and its connection to the meteorite collection. After 15 months orbiting Apophis, APEX will use its thrusters to dig into the surface. This will allow us to observe subsurface material, which will provide otherwise inaccessible insight into space weathering and the surface strength of stony asteroids.

Follow sample-delivery updates on NASA's OSIRIS-REx blog: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/

OSIRIS-REx NASA page: 

https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

University of Arizona's OSIRIS-REx Mission Page: 

http://www.asteroidmission.org

University of Arizona's OSIRIS-APEX Mission Page:

https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/missions/osiris-apex

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 1 hour

Release Date: Sept. 24, 2023

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