OSIRIS-REx Returning Asteroid Bennu Samples To Earth

NASA's  OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to return samples of Asteroid Bennu to Earth.  Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Transcript

00:00OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first asteroid sample return mission.

00:05It launched in September 2016 on a journey to explore a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu.

00:11After arriving in 2018, OSIRIS-REx spent nearly two years orbiting Bennu,

00:16mapping and studying its rugged terrain before carrying out its primary science objective.

00:22On October 20, 2020, the spacecraft ventured to a small crater in the asteroid's northern hemisphere.

00:28It dodged jagged rocks and towering boulders and plunged its arm into the loose surface,

00:34excavating six tons of debris while collecting about 250 grams of material.

00:40OSIRIS-REx stowed its bounty and closed its sample return capsule.

00:44It bid farewell to Bennu in May 2021, embarking on a 1.2-billion-mile cruise back to Earth.

00:51Now, two years and four months after leaving Bennu,

00:55OSIRIS-REx is closing in on the place where its journey began.

01:02On September 24, the spacecraft will approach to nearly 63,000 miles from Earth.

01:08It will power up and release its sample return capsule at 4.42 a.m. Mountain Time.

01:14The capsule must be jettisoned within a narrow timeframe and at just the right angle to hit its target,

01:19an area of roughly 250 square miles in Utah's West Desert.

01:24Once the capsule is away, OSIRIS-REx will fire its thrusters to avoid colliding with Earth.

01:31At 8.42 a.m., the capsule will streak into the atmosphere at a blistering 27,000 miles per hour.

01:38It will race across the western U.S. and begin to glow with heat,

01:42allowing infrared trackers on the ground to chart its progress.

01:46As it pushes deeper into the atmosphere, the capsule will rapidly decelerate,

01:50subjecting the Bennu samples to a punishing 32 Gs.

01:54About two minutes after entry, it will slow to Mach 1.4 and deploy its drogue parachute, stabilizing its descent.

02:01The capsule will enter special-use airspace at 8.46 a.m., almost 10 miles above the Department of Defense Utah Test and Training Range.

02:11Radar stations will lock on and track it to within 30 feet of its landing site.

02:16At 8.50 a.m., the capsule will extract and deploy its main parachute one mile above the ground.

02:22It will make its final descent at a leisurely 11 miles per hour, like a marathon runner savoring a victory lap,

02:28before touching down in the desert soil at 8.55.

02:35After ground teams retrieve the capsule, the Bennu samples will be taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

02:42The sample canister will be opened in the Astro Materials Acquisition and Curation Facility,

02:47and the samples will be curated, distributed, and studied for decades to come.

02:53Having delivered its cargo, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will depart Earth,

02:57but its journey will not quite be finished.

03:00In a daring encore, the renamed OSIRIS-Apex will enter an elliptical orbit of the Sun,

03:05repeatedly passing within the orbit of Venus and pushing the limits of its thermal design.

03:10Beginning in 2029, it will chase down and investigate Apophis,

03:15a 1,200-foot stony asteroid destined to make an exceptionally close flyby of Earth.

03:20After 13 years in deep space, at the start of a new decade, alone on a new world, the journey will continue.

03:30This episode will continue.