1 00:00:00,140 --> 00:00:03,200 [slate] 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,210 [slate] 3 00:00:06,210 --> 00:00:09,400 Text on screen: What is OSIRIS-REx and where is it going? 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,460 OSIRIS-REx 5 00:00:12,460 --> 00:00:15,640 is a wonderfully exciting mission. We're actually going 6 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,710 out an asteroid. And the reason asteroids are so 7 00:00:18,710 --> 00:00:21,830 exciting is that they're actually a little bit of the early solar system. 8 00:00:21,830 --> 00:00:24,850 OSIRIS-REx is actually going to be flying around this asteroid 9 00:00:24,850 --> 00:00:27,880 doing a wonderful mapping mission over the course of a year. 10 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:31,020 And the exciting thing about thing about this asteroid - as you can see 11 00:00:31,020 --> 00:00:34,070 it's about the size of a mountain or a very very large building. 12 00:00:34,070 --> 00:00:37,130 It's about half a kilometer across. 13 00:00:37,130 --> 00:00:40,230 So we are actually going out to this asteroid and what's going on today 14 00:00:40,230 --> 00:00:43,330 is we are actually using the Earth's gravity to whip 15 00:00:43,330 --> 00:00:46,340 us into the right orbit to get there. 16 00:00:46,340 --> 00:00:49,380 Text on screen: Earth's gravity will slingshot OSIRIS-REx to the asteroid. How does that work? 17 00:00:49,380 --> 00:00:52,490 We're actually going to be sling shotting by the Earth, that''s 18 00:00:52,490 --> 00:00:55,610 our closest approach. And so what that means is OSIRIS-REx is 19 00:00:55,610 --> 00:00:58,650 going to be flying very close to our planet and the gravity of our planet 20 00:00:58,650 --> 00:01:01,680 is actually going to help deflect the spacecraft to get it at the right 21 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,730 angle to intercept the asteriod. So this is something that actually saves 22 00:01:04,730 --> 00:01:07,770 us some rocket fuel. It also saves us some time. 23 00:01:07,770 --> 00:01:10,810 We're very clever because we can use the Earth's gravity to get to the 24 00:01:10,810 --> 00:01:13,830 place we need to go. 25 00:01:13,830 --> 00:01:16,860 Text on screen: Asteroids are time capsules from the beginning of our solar system. What's so exciting about this particular asteroid. 26 00:01:16,860 --> 00:01:19,960 Well Bennu really is a relic of what the solar system was like 27 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:23,100 billions of years ago. So a long time ago there were 28 00:01:23,100 --> 00:01:26,210 these building blocks that got made into planets, but some of those little 29 00:01:26,210 --> 00:01:29,360 objects stayed around. A lot of those entered through 30 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,400 the atmosphere of the Earth as meteorites. Bennu is 31 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,420 actually a chance to go and get a pristine sample. 32 00:01:35,420 --> 00:01:38,460 So we're going to be scanning the asteroid, finding a really good 33 00:01:38,460 --> 00:01:41,500 place to take a sample, then we're actually going to be returning 34 00:01:41,500 --> 00:01:44,560 about 200 grams - sorry about 60 grams to about a kilogram - 35 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,640 worth of material from this asteroid. This will 36 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,750 actually be the largest sample returned since the Apollo program. 37 00:01:50,750 --> 00:01:53,840 And the thing that is so exciting about this to scientists is 38 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,950 while we have some samples of asteroids, called meteorites, these things 39 00:01:56,950 --> 00:01:59,970 have fallen through our atmosphere. The chemistry has changed, they've 40 00:01:59,970 --> 00:02:02,990 been heated up. By going to Bennu and taking a pristine sample 41 00:02:02,990 --> 00:02:06,030 of this we actually have a little bit of the solar system 42 00:02:06,030 --> 00:02:09,080 that is unchanged for billions of years. We can find out what 43 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,140 the chemistry was like, what the conditions were like 44 00:02:12,140 --> 00:02:15,160 billions of years ago. 45 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,320 Text on screen: What's it going to look like when NASA high-fives an asteroid to collect a sample. 46 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,340 I am really look forward to this day. This is going to be a really exciting day coming up 47 00:02:21,340 --> 00:02:24,360 in a couple of years where the OSIRIS-REx flies 48 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,390 very close to Bennu and sort of does what we call a high-five maneuver - 49 00:02:27,390 --> 00:02:30,440 kind of gives it a little smack and there's a little vacuum device 50 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,490 that we hope is going to collect somewhere between 60 grams to a kilograms 51 00:02:33,490 --> 00:02:36,500 worth of material. That material is then put 52 00:02:36,500 --> 00:02:39,570 in a capsule and that capsule is going to be sent back to Earth. 53 00:02:39,570 --> 00:02:42,660 So it will be sent back to Earth and parachute through our 54 00:02:42,660 --> 00:02:45,720 atmosphere. It will actually be landing somewhere in the Great Salt Lake 55 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,850 of Utah. So this really is a sample of the 56 00:02:48,850 --> 00:02:51,880 early solar system coming back. And I believe scientists 57 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,990 will be studying this sample, probably for generations. 58 00:02:54,990 --> 00:02:58,010 Text on screen: Where can we learn more? 59 00:02:58,010 --> 00:03:01,050 Well to find out 60 00:03:01,050 --> 00:03:04,110 more about OSIRIS-REx and all the different ways that we're studying the 61 00:03:04,110 --> 00:03:07,160 solar system you can actually go to nasa.gov/osirisrex. 62 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,240 Find out what's going on today find out all 63 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,330 about the upcoming rendezvous with the asteroid and find out about the 64 00:03:13,330 --> 00:03:17,147 plans to return a pristine sample of the early solar system.