NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid, will return to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, with material from asteroid Bennu. When it arrives, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will release the sample capsule for a safe landing in the Utah desert. The pristine material from Bennu – rocks and dust collected from the asteroid’s surface in 2020 – will offer generations of scientists a window into the time when the Sun and planets were forming about 4.5 billion years ago.
It was launched on Sept. 8, 2016, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, spacecraft traveled to a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu (formerly 1999 RQ36) and collected a sample of rocks and dust from the surface.
The spacecraft is on its way back to Earth to deliver the sample on Sept. 24, 2023. When it arrives, the spacecraft will release the capsule containing pieces of Bennu over Earth’s atmosphere. The capsule will parachute to the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range, where the OSIRIS-REx team will be waiting to retrieve it.
OSIRIS-REx is now on its way back to Earth, bringing asteroid dust with it. It will launch a special capsule in 2023 that will fall through Earth’s atmosphere and settle safely on our planet. This is significant since it has been a long time since NASA returned samples from space, as it did during the Apollo lunar missions.
Scientists will carefully examine the asteroid dust after the capsule has returned to Earth. It’s like unpacking a fascinating parcel from space, and it could help us understand how our solar system developed and how life began on Earth.
The OSIRIS-REx mission isn’t just for scientists; it’s also a thrilling experience that draws people from all over the world together. It reminds us of the amazing things we can discover when we collaborate to explore the universe. So, as we wait for the asteroid soil, let us celebrate this mission’s incredible voyage and the knowledge it may bring to humanity.