Tag: Asteroids

A camera aboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft showed the mission’s sample return capsule closed its heat shield late Wednesday after a robotic arm placed asteroid samples inside for the trip back to Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin A collection chamber that could contain more than 2 pounds of samples gathered from an asteroid in deep…

These images from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft were taken Tuesday, Oct. 27, showing the mission’s robotic arm placing the sampling head inside the capsule that will return the asteroid specimens to Earth in 2023. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Working under close supervision from ground controllers more than 200 million miles away, the robotic arm on…

Captured by the spacecraft’s SamCam camera on Oct. 22, 2020, this series of three images shows that the sampler head on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is full of rocks and dust collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. They show also that some of these particles are slowly escaping the sampler head. Credit: NASA The…

The first images beamed back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft after it briefly landed an asteroid buoyed expectations Wednesday that the probe collected enough samples to meet the mission’s minimum requirement for return to Earth. But it will take another week for ground teams to get a reasonably precise estimate of how much…

This diagram illustrates the major events planned during OSIRIS-REx’s descent to asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20 for a touch and go landing. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Mars rovers go through seven minutes of terror when they plunge into the Martian atmosphere at hypersonic speed. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will take a more glacial approach to its…

Artist’s illustration of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touching down on asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab A robotic arm extended from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly contacted the rugged surface of asteroid Bennu Tuesday to gobble up pristine samples, a climactic moment in the $1 billion mission to bring asteroid material back to Earth in 2023. The daring…

EDITOR’S NOTE: All times are “Earth Received Time” when confirmation of events arrive on Earth. The events will occur more than 18 minutes earlier in real time on-board the spacecraft. Artist’s concept of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaching asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Flying on autopilot more than 200 million miles from Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…