OSIRIS-REx: NASA’s First Asteroid Sample Delivery To Earth To Take Place Tonight

Florida: FlOSIRIS-REx, NASA’s first asteroid sample delivery mission, is set to return pristine material from asteroid Bennu on September 24, 2023. Bennu was earlier known as 1999 RQ36. OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security — Regolith Explorer. After OSIRIS-REx enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it will release the sample return capsule which will make a landing in the Utah desert. 

OSIRIS-REx was launched on September 8, 2016, and reached Bennu in December 2018.

OSIRIS-REx collected rocks and dust from Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid, in 2020, after mapping the asteroid for two years.

On May 10, 2021, OSIRIS-REx departed Bennu’s vicinity. Bennu has spent seven years in space.

It is important to study these materials because they might provide insights into what the universe was like when the Sun and planets of the solar system were forming 4.5 billion years ago.

OSIRIS-REX’s sample return will be a major milestone for the US because this will mark the country’s first-ever mission to return.