OSIRIS-REx Prelaunch: Asteroid Sample Return Mission

NASA EDGE provides prelaunch coverage of the OSIRIS REx Launch Live from NASA Kennedy Space Center. Christina Richey (NASA HQ), Dante Lauretta, and Ed Beshore (both from University of Arizona) cover the scientific significance of the mission as a whole, while Rich Kuhns (Lockheed Martin) details the design and operations of the OSIRIS REx spacecraft. Chuck Tatro joins the show from NASA’s Launch Services Program, and the Co-Host successfully deploys his own endorsement retrieval mission from veteran NASA Launch Commentator George Diller. Countdown for retraction begins in 11…, 10…, 9…

About OSIRIS-REx

Artist concept of OSIRIS-REx. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer spacecraft will travel to a near-Earth asteroid, called Bennu (formerly 1999 RQ36), and bring at least a 2.1-ounce sample back to Earth for study. The mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch Sept. 8, 2016, at 7:05 p.m. EDT. As planned, the spacecraft will reach its asteroid target in 2018 and return a sample to Earth in 2023.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta is the mission’s principal investigator at the University of Arizona. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Download the OSIRIS Rex Fact Sheet: OSIRIS_Rex_Factsheet.pdf

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