Planets and Moons ID: 11098

OSIRIS-REx Targets Near-Earth Asteroid

Released on February 7, 2013

On February 15, 2013, a 45-meter asteroid called Duende (formerly 2012 DA14) passed within 28,000 kilometers of Earth - the closest approach on record for an object of this size. Although such Near-Earth Objects, or NEO's, cross our planet's orbit on a regular basis, only a handful are large enough to pose a threat. One of these objects is asteroid Bennu (formerly 1999 RQ36), a "leftover" from the formation of our solar system. In an effort to better understand NEO's and our planet's own origins, NASA is sending the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to asteroid Bennu to study the evolution of its orbit and retrieve a sample for return to Earth.

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/osiris-rex-security.html

Credits

Chris Meaney (HTSI): Lead Animator
Chris Smith (HTSI): Animator
Michael McClare (HTSI): Animator
Walt Feimer (HTSI): Animator
Michael Lentz (USRA): Animator
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Video Editor
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer
Edward Beshore (The University of Arizona): Scientist
Dante Lauretta (The University of Arizona): Scientist
Joseph A Nuth (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Chris Smith (HTSI): Videographer
Chris Smith (HTSI): Writer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Arizona

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11098

Mission:
OSIRIS-REX

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Goddard TV Tape:
G2013-014 -- Science of Asteroids

Keywords:
SVS >> Asteroid
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Solar System
DLESE >> Narrated
SVS >> Astrobiology
SVS >> OSIRIS-REx
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons
SVS >> Near-Earth Object
SVS >> Yarkovsky Effect