OSIRIS-REx & the Origin of Life

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A historic moment is on the horizon for NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx. On Oct. 20, the spacecraft will descend to asteroid Bennu’s surface, touch down for a few seconds and collect a sample of the asteroid’s rocks and dust, which will be returned to Earth for study.

NASA astrobiologists Dr. Jason Dworkin and Dr. Scott Sandford explain the importance of the OSIRIS-REx mission in the quest to understand the role that asteroids and other small bodies play in the origins of life on Earth.

#ToBennuAndBack
asteroidmission.org
astrobiology.nasa.gov

Featuring
Dr. Jason Dworkin (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Dr. Scott Sandford (NASA Ames Research Center)

Video & images are courtesy of NASA and its affiliates.
Music by Bensound.com (License certificate #1999293)

Directed & Edited by Mike Toillion


About OSIRIS-REx:
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is the first U.S. mission to return samples from an asteroid to Earth, addressing multiple NASA Solar System Exploration objectives.

OSIRIS-REx launched from Cape Canaveral on September 8, 2016. OSIRIS-REx completed its 1.2 billion-mile journey to arrive at the asteroid Bennu on December 3, 2018. On October 20th, 2020, it will make its first attempt to capture a sample of the asteroid's regolith.

Asteroids are the leftover debris from the solar system formation process that began over four billion years ago, and they can teach us a lot about the history of the Sun and planets. Bennu may contain the molecular precursors to the origin of life and the Earth’s oceans. Bennu is also a potentially hazardous asteroid that has a relatively high probability of impacting the Earth late in the 22nd century. OSIRIS-REx will determine Bennu’s physical and chemical properties, which could be critical for developing an impact mitigation mission in the future.