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OSIRIS-REx conducts final operations before sample delivery on September 24th
NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft is on track for a historic delivery.
The spacecraft performed its final orbit correction maneuver on Sunday (September 17) in preparation for returning the asteroid sample to Earth on September 24. The spacecraft is currently about 1.8 million miles (2.8 million kilometers) away and heading towards Earth at a speed of about 14,000 miles (23,000 kilometers) per hour.
Reaching some 63,000 miles (102,000 kilometers) above Earth on Sunday (September 24), the capsule containing samples from the asteroid Bennu will be placed within a 36-mile by 8.5-mile target area in the Utah desert. I plan to send it to NASA and U.S. military personnel will be on hand to retrieve it.
Related: Asteroid probe OSIRIS-REx performs final maneuver before sample delivery on September 24th
How many asteroids does OSIRIS-REx contain?
The Osiris-Rex drop capsule is supposed to descend to Earth under a parachute in the Utah desert on Sunday (September 24).
There are certainly valuable samples inside. In October 2020, the spacecraft sampled material from a 1,650-foot-wide (500-meter) near-Earth asteroid named Bennu, which may contain information about the history of the solar system. But how much material is in there?
read more: How much asteroid material will NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft deliver to Earth this weekend?
Learn how asteroid Bennu caught NASA’s Osiris-Rex by surprise
When NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid Bennu in 2018, it wasn’t what mission planners had imagined.
“We really thought there might be a problem there,” Dante Lauretta, the mission’s chief scientist, told Space.com. The asteroid’s surface was very different from what the OSIRIS-REx team had envisioned, so the spacecraft had to be reprogrammed to land on Bennu’s loose gravel surface.
But when the spacecraft landed to collect the samples, Benne had a few more surprises in store. As we countdown to the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft dropping this cargo to Earth on Sunday, September 24th, here’s how asteroid Bennu is likely to take NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft by surprise and destroy it along the way. Read about what happened in this feature.
Related: How asteroid Bennu caught NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft by surprise and nearly killed it in the process
One week since OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return
NASA is one week away from the grand landing of OSIRIS-REx, an asteroid sample return capsule filled with debris from asteroid Bennu. The landing, scheduled for September 24, 2023, will mark the end of OSIRIS-REx’s major seven-year mission, which began with a launch in 2016 and sample collection at Bennu in October 2020. .
Scientists are both excited and anxious as they prepare for Osiris-Rex’s return to Earth. Protected by a heat shield, the spacecraft would crash into Earth’s atmosphere and reach speeds of up to 27,000 miles per hour, before deploying its drogue and main parachute to slow to a more manageable 16 miles per hour.
As NASA prepares for Osiris-Rex’s landing, check out the latest coverage below and stay tuned for daily updates leading up to landing.
Osiris-Rex asteroid probe heads to Earth for sample delivery on September 24th
NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft fired its thrusters and entered orbit toward Earth on September 10, two weeks before delivering the long-awaited asteroid sample.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission nearly failed, but then Queen guitarist Brian May intervened.
The mission was ultimately a success, thanks in part to Queen guitarist Brian May. He meticulously created his 3D images of the pile of rubble to help mission leaders identify a safe landing spot.
NASA conducts critical drop test ahead of OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample arrival on September 24th
The OSIRIS-REx team conducted a key drop test on Wednesday (August 30) to practice what the mission’s real asteroid sample will do when it returns on September 24.
OSIRIS-REx Scientist Reveals NASA’s First Asteroid Sampling Mission Almost Wasn’t a Success (Exclusive Interview)
In an exclusive interview, Dante Lauretta, chief scientist for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, discusses the unforeseen challenges of NASA’s first asteroid sampling attempt.