The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission

Author

Beshore, Edward ; Sutter, Brian ; Mink, Ronald ; Lauretta, Dante ; Moreau, Michael ; Boynton, William ; Dworkin, Jason ; Everett, David ; Shinohara, Christopher ; Gal-Edd, Jonathan

Author_Institution

Lunar & Planetary Lab., Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

fYear

2015

fDate

7-14 March 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

14

Abstract

In September of 2016, the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith EXplorer) spacecraft will depart for asteroid (101955) Bennu, and when it does, humanity will turn an important corner in the exploration of the Solar System. After arriving at the asteroid in the Fall of 2018, it will undertake a program of observations designed to select a site suitable for retrieving a sample that will be returned to the Earth in 2023. The third mission in NASA´s New Frontiers program, OSIRIS-REx will obtain a minimum of 60 g of a primitive asteroid´s surface, the largest sample of extra-terrestrial material returned to the Earth since the end of the Apollo lunar missions (Figure 1). OSIRIS-REx will also return a separate sample of the fine-grained surface material that is <;1 mm in diameter.

Keywords

asteroids; astronomical instruments; Apollo lunar missions; NASA New Frontiers program; OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission; OSIRIS-REx spacecraft; Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith EXplorer spacecraft; Solar System exploration; asteroid 101955 Bennu; extraterrestrial material; fine-grained surface material; humanity; primitive asteroid surface; Earth; Extraterrestrial measurements; NASA; Orbits; Solar system; Space vehicles; Surface topography;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 2015 IEEE

Conference_Location

Big Sky, MT

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-5379-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2015.7118989

Filename

7118989