Astrophysics (Index)About

OSIRIS-REx

(New Frontiers 3, NF3)
(space mission aiming to return a sample of an asteroid)

OSIRIS-REx (Origins-spectral Interpretation-resource Identification-security-regolith Explorer, New Frontiers 3 or NF3) is a mission carrying samples of an asteroid back to Earth. The asteroid is 101955 Bennu, earlier known as 1999 RQ36. The project was the third NASA New Frontiers mission, which was launched in September 2016, entered orbit around the asteroid in December 2018, observed it, collected samples in October 2020, and in May 2021 began the return trip to reach Earth in September 2023, sending a sample return capsule into Earth atmosphere to parachute in Utah. Subsequent plans are to set OSIRIS-REx on a new mission termed OSIRIS-APEX, to visit another asteroid, 99942 Apophis, reaching it in 2029.


(spacecraft,asteroids,NASA)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSIRIS-REx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Frontiers_program
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/osiris-rex/in-depth/
http://asteroidmission.org/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017SSRv..212..925L/abstract

Referenced by pages:
101955 Bennu
CAESAR
CSA
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Lucy
near-Earth object (NEO)

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