OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first asteroid sample return mission.
So, OSIRIS-REx will spend about two years journeying to asteroid
Bennu.
Once we get there we'll spend a couple years surveying the
surface of the asteroid to find the best place to get a sample
from and then we'll go ahead and return it to Earth and have that
sample for scientists to study in perpetuity.
OSIRIS-REx is an amazing mission.
It's the third mission in the New Frontiers line, a PI-led
mission to go to asteroid Bennu, collect a sample and bring it
back to the Earth.
Asteroid Bennu contains isotopes, minerals and chemicals
from the early solar system and by studying these on Earth,
we'll better understand the origin of the solar system, the
origin of planets, perhaps even the origin of life.
Bennu was chosen as the target asteroid from the science team
after evaluating three critical criteria: the first of which was
accessibility.
So Bennu is really optimal.
It has an orbit of about 1.2 years and it passes by Earth
every six years.
Second criteria was the size.
We needed something large enough to where it wasn't rotating too
fast.
The smaller the body, typically the faster it rotates.
We wanted something that we would be able to do close
proximity operations with, all that detailed mapping we want to
do of the surface, and we wanted something that was rotating at a
speed that we could be able to match, and then slowly lower
ourselves to retrieve that sample.
The third criteria was the composition.
We wanted an asteroid that was pristine, that had a known
geologic context that was carbon-rich and Bennu really fit
the mold for all three of those criteria,
and that's why it's the destination asteroid.
OSIRIS-REx arrives at Bennu in August of 2018 and our mission
profile is designed to get us ever closer to the surface of
the asteroid to understand the nature of its surface.
What we really want to know is, can we get the spacecraft down
to the point where we want to get the sample?
We call that deliverability.
If we reach that point, will the spacecraft remain safe? Meaning
it can get away from the asteroid and still be functional
especially for returning a sample to the Earth.
And then we also want to know if we touch down on that spot, will
we get a sample?
We call that the sampleability assessment.
So those are the key parameters that drive our observation
planning of Bennu and we're going to spend about 10 months
globally mapping the asteroid and then performing detailed
site reconnaissance of specific locations where we think we want
to get the sample.
Status check.
Go Atlas.
Go Centaur.
Go OSIRIS-REx.
What I personally am most excited about for the OSIRIS-REx
mission will be the first images that we get when approaching
Bennu.
So right now we have a sense of what Bennu looks like and what
its shape is from ground-based assets like Arecibo and the
Goldstone radars, but we won't know what the shape is
completely.
We won't have a perfect sense of it until we actually encounter
the asteroid.
I am going to be really excited when those images come back.
For me, getting that sample back to Earth is the most exciting
part because we will have something that preserves
material from over four and a half billion years ago.
Who doesn't want that?
So sample return is really the most exciting part, I think, of
this mission.
I've been working on OSIRIS and its precursor concepts since
2004.
The launch is about the halfway point.
So for me, launch is a major milestone, but not the most
exciting part of the mission.
The most exciting part is the stories that Bennu has to tell
us that we haven't even thought of yet.
And liftoff of OSIRIS-REx!
Its seven-year mission: to boldly go to the asteroid Bennu
and back.
[ Launch audio ]
[ Satellite beeping ]