Tag: Asteroids

How NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will help protect Earth against asteroid Bennu and its flyby in 2182

NeRD

The asteroid Bennu is a scientific gem, but a potentially dangerous one: No other space rock has a higher known probability of hitting Earth in the next 200 years. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid-sampling mission will help scientists better understand how to protect humankind if Bennu’s trajectory were ever to intersect with that of our planet.  Bennu, discovered in 1999, is a rare B-type asteroid that is rich in carbon material believed to contain chemical compounds from the early epochs of the solar system. On top of that, its orbit makes the…

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OSIRIS-REx probe will bring pristine asteroid samples to Earth on Sept. 24. Watch it live

NeRD

NASA’s first-ever pristine asteroid sample will come down to Earth on Sunday morning (Sept. 24), and you can watch the historic action live. If all goes according to plan, the agency’s OSIRIS-REx probe will release a capsule containing samples of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu on Sunday at 6:42 a.m. EDT (1042 GMT).  That capsule will touch down softly under parachutes at 10:55 a.m. EDT (1455 GMT) at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range and Dugway Proving Grounds, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Salt Lake City.…

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What time is NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return capsule landing on Sept. 24?

NeRD

It’s been seven years since the launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to collect and return samples of asteroid Bennu, and the long wait for the spacecraft’s homecoming is nearly over. OSIRIS-REx, short for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, on September 8, 2016. The journey to rendezvous with Bennu took the spacecraft two years to complete, which were followed by another two years of scans while orbiting the asteroid. The much-anticipated collection of material from Bennu’s surface didn’t occur until October 20, 2020, and…

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How NASA’s OSIRIS-REx will bring asteroid samples to Earth in 5 not-so-easy steps

NeRD

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission faces the most difficult part of its journey as it approaches Earth for atmospheric reentry and recovery. The spacecraft is on course to deliver a capsule that will touch down in a western United States desert Sept. 24, completing a seven-year journey and making it the first NASA mission to retrieve surface material from an asteroid.  OSIRIS-REx launched on Sept. 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, in Florida, and began a two-year trip to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft arrived…

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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft changed how we think about asteroids. Here’s how.

NeRD

OSIRIS-REx was the third mission in history to collect a sample from an asteroid  and featured the most comprehensive suite of instruments ever flown on an asteroid research mission. The spacecraft’s two years of scanning the surface of asteroid Bennu and its brief sample-collection touchdown showed scientists how little they know about space rocks. Prior to OSIRIS-REx‘s 2016 launch, two other missions studied asteroids in detail: Japan’s Hayabusa 1 that delivered sand and dust grains from asteroid Itokawa to Earth in 2010; and NASA’s NEAR-Shoemaker, which explored asteroid Eros in…

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How much asteroid material is NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe delivering to Earth this weekend?

NeRD

We’ll soon find out just how much asteroid dirt and rock NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected nearly three years ago. OSIRIS-REx‘s sample capsule is scheduled to come down to Earth on Sunday (Sept. 24), making a soft landing under parachutes in the Utah desert.  That capsule is full of precious cargo — material OSIRIS-REx snagged from the surface of a 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) near-Earth asteroid named Bennu in October 2020. Analyses of this space-rock stuff could reveal a great deal about the solar system’s early days, researchers say, and might even…

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What if OSIRIS-REx’s asteroid-sample capsule crashes this weekend?

NeRD

After seven years flying through space, a spacecraft capsule carrying a precious asteroid sample will touch down on Earth under parachutes this weekend. But what if it crashes?  A crash of NASA‘s OSIRIS-REx descent capsule on Sept. 24 is “the stuff of my nightmares,” the mission’s principal investigator, Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, said recently. (OSIRIS-REx stands for “Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.”) “If that parachute doesn’t open and we’re in the ‘hard landing’ contingency, fortunately we have a backup team member who will help me…

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Watch an Asteroid Race Across the Sky

NeRD

The kilometer-wide, potentially hazardous asteroid 1994 PC1 will fly past Earth on January 18th. Good news on two counts: It won’t hit us, and it’s bright enough to see in a 4-inch telescope. The post Watch an Asteroid Race Across the Sky appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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Exploring Bright Galaxy Groups in Leo

NeRD

Leo, the Lion, stands high in the southern sky during the early spring. We visit some of the constellation’s brighter galaxy clumps then go asteroid hunting. The post Exploring Bright Galaxy Groups in Leo appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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