OSIRIS-REx Ready for Touchdown on Asteroid Bennu
OSIRIS-REx Ready for Touchdown on Asteroid Bennu https://asteroidday-uploads.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20193342/updatedtagpose.jpg 500 254 Asteroid Day https://asteroidday-uploads.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20193342/updatedtagpose.jpg
NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission is now ready for its long-awaited landing on asteroid Bennu’s surface, set to take place on October 20th for the first sample collection.
Last month, the mission brought the spacecraft 213 ft (65 m) from the asteroid’s surface during its first sample collection rehearsal — successfully completing a practice run of the activities leading up to the sampling event.
“This mission’s incredible performance so far is a testament to the extraordinary skill and dedication of the OSIRIS-REx team,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
The spacecraft is scheduled to depart Bennu in mid-2021, and will return the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.
Excerpt above from NASA. For more information on NASA’S OSIRIS-REx mission: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
