OSIRIS-REx - Post-Launch

Posted by Joe Pennington on Sep 09, 2016

about September 8, 2016 a University-of-Arizona-led mission has been launched with a destination of a nearby asteroid named Bennu. Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid of interest for the organic materials associated with this class; it may give us clues to the formation of the solar system and the origin of life on Earth. The goal of the mission is to examine the asteroid, find the most interesting surface material, touch down and collect a “handful.” On returning to Earth in 2023, the spacecraft releases and safely lands a capsule containing the pristine asteroid sample for examination in our laboratories.

The science team will be responsible for analyzing the returned images and mapping the asteroid to identify scientifically interesting sites for the sampling maneuver. The 3-component camera suite has been designed, built and tested here at the UA. Furthermore, the mission will be operated during its 7 years in space from the Drake building on Sixth Avenue, the same facility where the Phoenix Mars Mission was managed.

Dr. Peter Smith describes the extraordinary NASA mission and what it means for the UA and Tucson.

Biography - Dr. Peter Smith

Dr. Smith, now retired, was the Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair of Integrated Science and is a Professor Emeritus of Planetary Science at the UA. He is a long term Tucson resident and previously a member of the Tucson Rotary Club. Professionally, he has been involved in missions to Mars: building the camera for Mars Pathfinder in 1997 and leading the Phoenix Mission in 2008. These activities led to NASA bestowing on him the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2010, NASA’s highest recognition. Smith is a member of the imaging science team on the OSIRIS-REx mission.