OSIRIS-REX Mission arrival at Asteroid "Bennu"

OSIRIS-Rex mission of NASA to near earth asteroid "Bennu"

OSIRIS-REX Mission arrival at Asteroid "Bennu"

Highlights:

• The spacecraft arrived at asteroid "Bennu" which was discovered during Apollo mission of 1999
• The spacecraft travelled a distance of 2-billion kilometers
• First mission to asteroid Bennu

Mission Status:

        On 3 December 2018 at 17:00 UTC, NASA's OSIRIS-Rex mission spacecraft completed his journey to asteroid Bennu of which is at 2 billion kilometers away from earth. The spacecraft travelled the whole distance whose journey began in September 2016. It conducted a close flyby of Bennu's north pole on 4 December 2018.

      After the Hayabusa mission of Japan to asteroid Ryugu, OSIRIS-Rex is finding difficult in touching down on Bennu, and will be a challenging task. It is believed that the spacecraft will collect asteroid sample on 04 July 2020 and will return to Earth by 2023. 

Mission Overview:

      OSIRIS-Rex stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer is a asteroid sample return mission built and launched by NASA on 8 September 2016. The mission was planned for 7 years and elapsed 2 years and 2 months. The prime mission goal is to collect small asteroid sample of 101955 Bennu asteroid and return to earth for study analysis. The total cost of the mission is about $800 million excluding launch cost. It was categorized under New Frontiers Program after the Juno and New Horizons.University of Arizona is leading the spacecraft control and management.

Image Credit : NASA

Tags: OSIRIS-Rex Mission | Space Updates | Fornax Space Missions