NASA is poised to make history again. Next month, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will attempt its first sample collection from asteroid Bennu, delivering pristine extraterrestrial materials that could illuminate the Solar System's origins.
The big moment is almost here. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, four years ago, the U.S. probe OSIRIS-REx is ready for its core mission: gathering a sample from the 500-meter-wide asteroid Bennu. NASA has targeted October 20 for the maneuver.
"I can't tell you how excited I am," said OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona at a September 24 press conference. "I am convinced that we are up to the challenge ahead."
This won't be straightforward. Roughly the size of a small van, the probe must spiral down to a small crater called Nightingale, targeting a flat eight-meter-wide zone.
The landing area is narrower than the initial 50-meter estimate, as Bennu's surface proved rougher than expected from Earth-based observations.
Over 200 million kilometers away, signals take more than 18 minutes to reach the spacecraft, so mission control can't intervene in real time—the probe must handle it autonomously.
OSIRIS-REx will briefly touch down with its 3.4-meter sampling arm, firing a nitrogen burst to stir up material for collection in just seconds.
NASA aims for at least 60 grams. If insufficient, a second attempt could follow early next year at another site.
Samples secured, OSIRIS-REx will depart Bennu in March 2021, arriving back on Earth September 24, 2023, with the capsule landing in Utah's desert.
Global scientists will analyze these 4.5-billion-year-old relics, offering insights into Solar System formation and potentially molecular precursors to life on Earth.
This builds on prior successes: Japan's Hayabusa returned grains from Itokawa in 2010, and Hayabusa2's Ryugu samples are due in Australia December 6.
