Jan. 27—NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu to bring back samples ends as the spacecraft begins its return to Earth.
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) rocket bid farewell to Bennu after gathering m
Why NASA Has Delayed Return Journey of Probe that Collected Historic Asteroid Bennu Sample
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) has announced that the return journey of its asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-REx probe is being delayed by two months. In a statement on Tuesday, the American space agency said that the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will leave asteroid Bennu and begin its journey back to Earth on May 10, 2021. Earlier, the spacecraft was supposed to leave the asteroid on March 3, 2021.
NASA also mentioned that in the sample collection event that took place on October 20, 2020, the spacecraft collected a substantial amount of material from Bennu’s surface that exceeded the mission’s requirement of 60 grams.
Jan. 26—NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which collected rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu in October, will depart the asteroid on May 10 to begin its two-year journey back to Earth, NASA announced on Tuesday.
“Leaving Bennu’s vicinity in May puts us in the ‘sweet spot,&#
NASA s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to depart asteroid Bennu on May 10 daijiworld.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from daijiworld.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NASA s asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-REx probe will head back to Earth in May Engadget 1/27/2021 Mariella Moon
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will soon bid asteroid Bennu farewell. NASA has announced that OSIRIS-REx will start its journey back to our planet on May 10th, two-and-a-half years after it rendezvoused with the near-Earth asteroid. The agency launched the spacecraft back in 2016 to collect samples from Bennu in hopes that analyzing the materials could give us more insight into the formation of the Solar System and into the beginning of life here on Earth.
OSIRIS-REx observed the asteroid’s surface for months after the rendezvous to find the perfect site for sample collection. In October 2020, it finally touched the space rock’s surface just long enough to scoop up samples of regolith that scientists can examine. In fact, it grabbed more than the mission’s requirement of 60 grams, which is why the sample container started leaking and NASA had to speed up