NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission

Highlights and interviews from the launch of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on September 8, 2016. Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music provided by Killer Tracks: "Uncertain Tragedy," "Particles and Fields," "The Pressure Continues," "Fear Index," "Favor" On September 8, 2016, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft began its journey to near-Earth asteroid Bennu. As the sun began to set over Cape Canaveral, OSIRIS-REx made a picture-perfect liftoff from pad 41 aboard an Atlas V rocket, cheered on by crowds of mission personnel and space enthusiasts. This video revisits the launch with interviews and highlights from Kennedy Space Center, as OSIRIS-REx continues its seven-year journey to Bennu and back.Learn more about OSIRIS-REx from NASA and the University of Arizona. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex) Related pages

To Bennu and BackMusic credits: "Defenders of the Earth" and "Finding Gaia" by Daniel Jay Nielson [ASCAP]; Atmosphere Music Ltd PRS; Volta Music; Killer Tracks Production Music NASA's latest New Frontiers mission, OSIRIS-REx, will venture to a near-Earth asteroid to discover clues about the unique resources asteroids hold, processes that affect asteroids' orbital paths and their potential for impacting Earth, and the origins of life in the solar system. In addition, OSIRIS-REx will collect a sample from the surface of the asteroid and return it to Earth for generations of scientists to study and analyze, making this the first American asteroid sample return mission and the largest sample returned from an extraterrestrial body since Apollo. OSIRIS-REx's launch window opens September 8, 2016. This is the journey #ToBennuAndBack. For More InformationSee [http://nasa.gov/osiris-rex/](http://nasa.gov/osiris-rex/) Related pages

1. Gordon Johnston - Spacecraft introduction 2. Gordon Johnston - OSIRIS-REx mission timeline 3. Gordon Johnston - OSIRIS-REx mission partners 1. Jeffrey Grossman - New Frontiers overview 2. Jeffrey Grossman - Asteroid exploration timeline 3. Jeffrey Grossman - OSIRIS-REx exploration 4. Jeffrey Grossman - Previous sample return missions 1. Dante Lauretta - OSIRIS-REx mission acronym 2. Dante Lauretta - Origins 3. Dante Lauretta - Spectral Interpretation 4. Dante Lauretta - Resource Identification 5. Dante Lauretta - Security 6. Dante Lauretta - Regolith Explorer 1. Christina Richey - Asteroid Bennu accessibility 2. Christina Richey - Asteroid Bennu size 3. Christina Richey - Asteroid Bennu composition 1. Rich Kuhns - OSIRIS-REx construction and shipping 2. Rich Kuhns - TAGSAM testing 3. Rich Kuhns - TAGSAM animation 1. Mike Donnelly - OSIRIS-REx instruments 2. Mike Donnelly - Kennedy Space Center arrival TV Backdrop - Large-format image of OSIRIS-REx preparing to sample asteroid Bennu OSIRIS-REx is on a mission to study asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth. The graphics on this page were created to support the OSIRIS-REx L-14 press briefing at NASA headquarters on August 17, 2016. All videos are available for download in broadcast quality. The majority of the videos do not contain audio. Links to 4K-resolution versions appear at the bottom of the page.Watch the OSIRIS-REx L-14 press conference.Learn more about OSIRIS-REx from NASA and the University of Arizona. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html) Related pages

OSIRIS-REx Tech: Mapping an Asteroid with LasersMusic credits: "Drowned in Flames" by Boris Nonte; Ed.Berlin Production Music/Universal Publishing Production Music GmbH GEMA; Killer Tracks Production Music"Nighthawk" by Beatrix Löw-Beer, Mathew Kay, and Michael Kunzi; Ed.Berling Production Music/Universal Publishing Production Music GmbH GEMA; Killer Tracks Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Watch this video in French on the Canadian Space Agency website. French versionTranslated by the Canadian Space Agency The OSIRIS-REx mission is on a journey to study asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth. The OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) will provide a three-dimensional map of the asteroid's shape, which will allow scientists to understand the context of the asteroid's geography and the sample location. OLA is provided by the Canadian Space Agency in exchange for Canadian ownership of a portion of the returned asteroid sample. Related pages

NASA is sending a robotic spacecraft to collect material from an asteroid and return it to Earth. Find out more about the OSIRIS-REx mission and its exploration of asteroid Bennu in this video. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will use several instruments to map Bennu's surface and study its composition when it arrives in 2018. The spacecraft is equipped with a mechanical arm to make contact with the asteroid and obtain a sample from the surface. A sampling device attached to the arm will release a burst of nitrogen gas, directing loose rocks and soil into its collection chamber. The sample will be stowed inside the spacecraft's sample return capsule in preparation for the two-and-a-half-year journey back to Earth. The capsule containing the sample will be released from the spacecraft and parachute to Earth's surface when OSIRIS-REx returns in 2023. Related pages

OSIRIS-REx will use its visible and infrared spectrometer (OVIRS) to study the chemical composition of Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid that may hold clues to the origins of life.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. Animated diagram of the OVIRS spectrometer, tracing the path of light through the instrument.Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab/Walt Feimer The OVIRS instrument will allow OSIRIS-REx to hunt for organic molecules on asteroid Bennu.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Dan Gallagher OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS)Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center put the finishing touches on OVIRS.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk NASA is sending the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to explore near-Earth asteroid Bennu, a carbon-rich body that may contain clues to the origins of life. When OSIRIS-REx arrives at Bennu in 2018, it will spend over a year orbiting the asteroid and studying it with a suite of remote sensing instruments. The OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer, or OVIRS, will look at Bennu's spectral signature to detect organics and other minerals. After OVIRS and its fellow instruments have thoroughly surveyed Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will descend to the asteroid's surface, collect a sample, and return it to Earth in 2023.Learn more about the OVIRS instrument.Visit the OSIRIS-REx mission website. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html) Related pages

Scientists Richard Binzel, Rebecca Masterson, and Branden Allen discuss how the REXIS instrument aboard OSIRIS-REx works.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission launches in September 2016 and plans to return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023. This video profiles a student-built instrument aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft called REXIS - the Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer. The purpose of REXIS is to collect and image fluorescent X-rays emitted by the asteroid, which will give scientists information regarding atomic elements that comprise it. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html) Related pages

Project Scientist Jason Dworkin discusses the OSIRIS-REx mission to explore asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth.View transcript.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel. Astrobiologists like Jason Dworkin are keenly interested in the origins of life on Earth, but the evidence that they seek was erased long ago by Earth’s geology and chemistry. Fortunately, asteroids like Bennu preserve the solar system’s earliest ingredients - including the carbon-based building blocks of life - which can be retrieved and studied by scientists in a lab on Earth. That’s why NASA is sending a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx to explore asteroid Bennu and bring back a sample. The material collected by OSIRIS-REx will provide a wealth of data for future generations of scientists, shedding light on one of the solar system's biggest mysteries.Learn more about the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu.Learn more about the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory at NASA Goddard. For More InformationSee [http://www.asteroidmission.org/](http://www.asteroidmission.org/) Related pages

Bennu's Journey movie poster Bennu's Journey Full Resolution For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel. Bennu's Journey Letterboxed Bennu's Journey Cropped Bennu's Journey - no voiceover Bennu's Journey - Spanish Language Version Bennu's Journey is a 6-minute animated movie about NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, asteroid Bennu, and the formation of our solar system. Born from the rubble of a violent collision, hurled through space for millions of years, asteroid Bennu has had a tough life in a rough neighborhood - the early solar system. Bennu's Journey shows what is known and what remains mysterious about the evolution of Bennu and the planets. By retrieving a sample of Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will teach us more about the raw ingredients of the solar system and our own origins.The animation was produced in an 8 x 3 aspect ratio at a resolution of 5760 x 2160 and is available in its full resolution, 4K Ultra HD, 1080HD and 720HD versions in both a letter boxed and a 16 x 9 cropped format. For More InformationSee [http://www.asteroidmission.org](http://www.asteroidmission.org) Related pages

This narrated video provides an overiew of the OSIRIS-REx mission to observe asteroid Bennu and retreive a sample for study on Earth.For complete transcript, click here. OSIRIS-REx will visit a Near Earth asteroid called Bennu and return with samples that may hold clues to the origins of the solar system and perhaps life itself. It will also investigate the asteroid's chance of impacting Earth in 2182. For the mission, NASA has selected the team led by Principal Investigator Dr. Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona. NASA GSFC will manage the mission and Lockheed Martin Space Systems will build the spacecraft. Arizona State University will supply the OTES instrument; NASA GSFC will supply the OVIRS instrument; the Canadian Space Agency will supply the OLA instrument; the University of Arizona will supply the OCAMS camera suite; Harvard/MIT will supply the REXIS instrument; and Flight Dynamics will supply the KinetX instrument. For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html) Related pages

An overview video of the OSIRIS-REx mission. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft apporaches asteroid Bennu. Another view of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaching asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx performs remote sensing observations of asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx deploys its Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechansim (TAGSAM) instrument. OSIRIS-REx collects a sample of asteroid Bennu. Exterior view of OSIRIS-REx collecting a sample of asteroid Bennu with its Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM). Cutaway view of the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) collecting a sample of asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx performs a spin maneuver to dertermine the mass of the sample. OSIRIS-REx stores its sample of asteroid Bennu inside the Sample Return Capsule (SRC). OSIRIS-REx returns its sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth. A 360 degree view of OSIRIS-REx. Artist's conception of a near-Earth asteroid flying past our planet. An animation depicting the Yarkovsky effect, the effect of solar heating on a rotating asteroid. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaches asteroid 1999 RQ36, Deployment of the OSIRIS-REx sample arm. Animation showing OSIRIS-REx instrument beams. Animation depicting the separation and return of the sample capsule. Rotation of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to show instruments and other details. OSIRIS-REx storing the sample in the sample return capsule. OSIRIS-REx "touching down" on asteroid 1999 RQ36. This page contains broadcast-quality animations for the OSIRIS-REx mission. For More InformationSee [http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu/](http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu/) Related pages