Science News | How NASA’s OSIRIS-REx will return bits of an asteroid to Earth | Science News @ScienceNewsMag | Uploaded September 2023 | Updated October 2024, 9 minutes ago.
After a three-year trip aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, a capsule containing dust and rocks from the asteroid Bennu will make a fiery plunge into the Earth’s atmosphere on September 24, as seen in this simulation. Once the capsule is released, OSIRIS-REx will fire its jets to deflect itself onward to asteroid Apophis under the new name OSIRIS-APEX. Meanwhile, the capsule will fly toward Earth like a fireball. Although jostled during the rough descent, the sample will be protected from the intense temperatures of reentry by the capsule's heat shield. As the capsule nears the ground, it will pop a parachute and gently drift the rest of the way down in Utah where, if all goes well, scientists can collect their long-awaited delivery.
Read more: sciencenews.org/article/nasa-osiris-rex-return-asteroid-bennu-earth
Video: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
After a three-year trip aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, a capsule containing dust and rocks from the asteroid Bennu will make a fiery plunge into the Earth’s atmosphere on September 24, as seen in this simulation. Once the capsule is released, OSIRIS-REx will fire its jets to deflect itself onward to asteroid Apophis under the new name OSIRIS-APEX. Meanwhile, the capsule will fly toward Earth like a fireball. Although jostled during the rough descent, the sample will be protected from the intense temperatures of reentry by the capsule's heat shield. As the capsule nears the ground, it will pop a parachute and gently drift the rest of the way down in Utah where, if all goes well, scientists can collect their long-awaited delivery.
Read more: sciencenews.org/article/nasa-osiris-rex-return-asteroid-bennu-earth
Video: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
