Meet Bennu

[Channel Hopper]

Meanwhile, they're going to land.

OSIRIS-REx Engineers Pull Off a Daring Rescue of a Monumental Asteroid Mission - NASA

On Friday, Oct. 11, the OSIRIS-REx team should have been preparing to point their spacecraft cameras precisely over the asteroid Bennu to capture

www.nasa.gov

NASA will announce the primary sample site, as well as a backup, on Dec. 12. Two final reconnaissance flyovers at even lower altitudes beginning in January will allow the OSIRIS-REx team to collect final, detailed images of these sites.

So B-Day will be announced later today

Keep them peeled !

 

[Channel Hopper]

Osiris Rex in isolation but busy, looking at black holes of all things.

ATel #13594: Detection of MAXI J0637-430 by the Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) Onboard OSIRIS-REx

www.astronomerstelegram.org

 

[Channel Hopper]

A week to go before the first of two dummy runs to the surface.

Rehearsal Time for NASA’s Asteroid Sampling Spacecraft - OSIRIS-REx Mission

In August, a robotic spacecraft will make NASA’s first-ever attempt to descend to the surface of an asteroid, collect a sample, and ultimately bring it safely back to Earth. In order to achieve this challenging feat, the OSIRIS-REx mission team devised new techniques to operate in asteroid...

www.asteroidmission.org

 

[Channel Hopper]

A detailed description of Bennu's composition

News Feature: Diamonds in the rubble

Two ancient asteroids with distinctive diamond-like shapes are revealing clues not only about their own formation, but that of the solar system as well. For the past three years, two spacecraft have been studying a pair of the most primitive solar system objects ever explored. The asteroids...

www.pnas.org

 

[Channel Hopper]

Dummy (TAG) runs now scheduled for late August

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Ready for Touchdown on Asteroid Bennu - OSIRIS-REx Mission

NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission is officially prepared for its long-awaited touchdown on asteroid Bennu’s surface. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has targeted Oct. 20 for its first sample collection...

www.asteroidmission.org

 

[Channel Hopper]

A clear image of the planned site, lots of rubble.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Produces Nightingale Mosaic - NASA

This view of sample site Nightingale on asteroid Bennu is a mosaic of images collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on March 3. A total of 345 PolyCam

www.nasa.gov

 

[Channel Hopper]

Technical speak - Feck !

Reuters | Breaking International News & Views

Find latest news from every corner of the globe at Reuters.com, your online source for breaking international news coverage.

uk.reuters.com

 

[Channel Hopper]

A bit more info, and pictures

A NASA Probe Is So Full of Asteroid Material That It Now Has A Problem

A NASA spacecraft sent out to collect rocks from an asteroid seems to have nabbed a lot of material, but there's now an unexpected problem — a flap isn't closing because some rocks are stuck.

www.npr.org

So, not only has mankind dumped fridge sized objects onto other worlds, then stolen somebody elses topsoil, we are now discarding it into space, possibly in violation of current treaties, though this would have to be verified with the appropriate Okudagram.

Very messy.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Door shut, no need to tear up another neighbourhood.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Successfully Stows Sample of Asteroid Bennu - NASA

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has successfully stowed the spacecraft’s

www.nasa.gov

Another five months before Osiris can leave for home with the plunder.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Final flyby of the asteroid, pictures now being sent back of the landing site to check the amount of vandalism.

OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It's Almost Time to Come Home

After more than two years in orbit around asteroid Bennu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to come home. It’s bringing with it a pristine sample of space rocks that geologists here on Earth are eager to study up close. The sample will arrive in September 2023, but we won’t have to wait...

www.universetoday.com

 

[jeallen01]

Probably been shown before, but PBS America on UK SKY (/Freesat etc.?) on Astra 2F, 11334/V/27500 5/6, currently showing "Touching the Asteroid" about missions to Bennu, and the history behind it.

Edited: also repeating several times later today.

 

[Channel Hopper]

PBS +1 (FreeView 87) as well, not sure why it is not on the BST channel 84 (or indeed any programme until 1pm).

Oddly PBS+1 is not on the Astra 2 position

 

[Channel Hopper]

Home Sunday

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

The Bennu asteroid samples onboard OSIRIS-REx are about to face the bumpiest part of their journey back from deep space.

www.space.com