OSIRIS-REx

OSIRIS-REx was a <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> asteroid-study and <a href="/facts/Sample-return_mission/0bcaFtVx">sample-return mission</a> that visited and collected samples from <a href="/facts/101955_Bennu/ae1ebNGR">101955 Bennu</a>, a <a href="/facts/C-type_asteroid/WRGFmzAT">carbonaceous</a> <a href="/facts/Near-Earth_object/UwnPRnSN">near-Earth asteroid</a>. The material, returned in September 2023, is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the <a href="/facts/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_Solar_System/cgElXHpM">formation and evolution of the Solar System</a>, its initial stages of planet formation, and the source of <a href="/facts/Organic_compound/gqCNaN45">organic compounds</a> that led to the <a href="/facts/Abiogenesis/BvAmLPQP">formation of life</a> on Earth. Following the completion of the primary OSIRIS-REx (Regolith Explorer) mission, the spacecraft is planned to conduct a flyby of asteroid <a href="/facts/99942_Apophis/xEEpaxYe">99942 Apophis</a>, renamed as OSIRIS-APEX (Apophis Explorer).
OSIRIS-REx was launched on 8 September 2016, flew past Earth on 22 September 2017, and rendezvoused with <a href="/facts/101955_Bennu/ae1ebNGR">Bennu</a> on 3 December 2018. It spent the next two years analyzing the surface to find a suitable site from which to extract a sample. On 20 October 2020, OSIRIS-REx touched down on Bennu and successfully collected a sample. OSIRIS-REx left Bennu on 10 May 2021 and returned its sample to Earth on 24 September 2023, subsequently starting its extended mission to study <a href="/facts/99942_Apophis/xEEpaxYe">99942 Apophis</a>, where it will arrive in April 2029.
Bennu was chosen as the target of study because it is a "<a href="/facts/Time_capsule/pnhArR02">time capsule</a>" from the birth of the <a href="/facts/Solar_System/QIcLSazQ">Solar System</a>. Bennu has a very dark surface and is classified as a <a href="/facts/B-type_asteroid/EtAQw14d">B-type asteroid</a>, a sub-type of the carbonaceous <a href="/facts/C-type_asteroid/WRGFmzAT">C-type asteroids</a>. Such asteroids are considered primitive, having undergone little geological change from their time of formation. In particular, Bennu was selected because of the availability of pristine <a href="/facts/Carbonaceous/ukrgQexo">carbonaceous</a> material, a key element in <a href="/facts/Organic_compound/gqCNaN45">organic molecules</a> necessary for life as well as representative of matter from before the formation of Earth. Organic molecules, such as <a href="/facts/Amino_acid/WDxYwBny">amino acids</a>, have previously been found in meteorite and comet samples, indicating that some ingredients necessary for life can be naturally synthesized in outer space.
The cost of the OSIRIS-REx mission is approximately US$800 million, not including the <a href="/facts/Atlas_V/5SNgegyt">Atlas V</a> launch vehicle, which is about US$183.5 million. The OSIRIS-APEX extended mission costs an additional US$200 million. It is the third planetary science mission selected in the <a href="/facts/New_Frontiers_program/QV1qnRAH">New Frontiers program</a>, after <a href="/facts/Juno_(spacecraft)/UzlYPApe">Juno</a> and <a href="/facts/New_Horizons/G5XTU5DK">New Horizons</a>. The principal investigator is <a href="/facts/Dante_Lauretta/C2k8VNNJ">Dante Lauretta</a> from the <a href="/facts/University_of_Arizona/ehesIpKx">University of Arizona</a>, having taken over in 2011 after the original PI <a href="/facts/Michael_Julian_Drake/gCnWM7qG">Michael Julian Drake</a> died four months after the mission won approval from NASA.
OSIRIS-REx was the first United States spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid. Previous asteroid returns include the Japanese probes <a href="/facts/Hayabusa/kFalgese">Hayabusa</a>, which visited <a href="/facts/25143_Itokawa/V57ybCSg">25143 Itokawa</a> in 2010, and <a href="/facts/Hayabusa2/ATAbjP6C">Hayabusa2</a>, which visited <a href="/facts/162173_Ryugu/I3RA3ITC">162173 Ryugu</a> in June 2018.

OSIRIS-REx open-in-new

OSIRIS-REx