OSIRIS-REx

OSIRIS-REx
Name	OSIRIS-REx
Mission type	Sample-return mission
Operator	NASA
Spacecraft	OSIRIS-REx spacecraft
Manufacturer	Lockheed Martin
Launch date	2016-09-08
Launch vehicle	Atlas V 411
Launch site	Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Landing date	2023-09-24 (sample return capsule)
Orbit	Earth return trajectory; rendezvous with 101955 Bennu

OSIRIS-REx OSIRIS-REx was a NASA planetary science mission to rendezvous with, study, and return a sample from the near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu. The mission was led by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with principal investigator Dante Lauretta and built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft's return of extraterrestrial material enabled collaborations among institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Arizona, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Overview and Mission Objectives

The primary objective was to obtain and return >60 g of pristine regolith to enable studies by teams at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Arizona, European Space Agency, Smithsonian Institution, and international partners. Secondary objectives included mapping Bennu's morphology, assessing resource potential for missions by organizations like NASA Ames Research Center and informing planetary defense initiatives coordinated with Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The mission aimed to constrain formation models tied to Solar System formation, planetary accretion, and volatile delivery hypotheses relevant to studies at California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Spacecraft Design and Instruments

The spacecraft bus was developed by Lockheed Martin, integrating subsystems from contractors including Honeywell Aerospace and instruments from institutions such as University of Colorado Boulder and University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Key instruments included the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS), the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) developed by the Canadian Space Agency, the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS), and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES). The sample acquisition mechanism, the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), used systems derived from technologies at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and components from Aerojet Rocketdyne. Guidance, Navigation, and Control hardware leveraged star trackers and inertial measurement units from Honeywell International, while telecommunications used X-band transponders compatible with the Deep Space Network facilities at Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, and Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex.

Launch, Cruise, and Operations

OSIRIS-REx launched on an Atlas V variant from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and performed cruise maneuvers including an Earth gravity assist coordinated with mission design teams at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Cruise operations involved trajectory corrections supervised by flight controllers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and mission operations at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Arrival at Bennu initiated proximity operations including detailed surveys, use of the Canadian Space Agency-provided OLA for topographic mapping, and reconnaissance campaigns led by teams at University of Arizona and Planetary Science Institute. Operations planning referenced procedures developed for missions like Hayabusa2, NEAR Shoemaker, and Dawn.

Sample Acquisition and Containment

The TAGSAM head collected regolith during a touch-and-go maneuver executed using guidance algorithms from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and inertial control by Honeywell. The successful sampling event used a nitrogen gas burst to mobilize material into the sampler, with contamination control protocols informed by laboratories at NASA Johnson Space Center and curator standards of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Collected material was secured in the Sample Return Capsule designed with thermal protection technologies similar to those used by Mars Science Laboratory and handled by a curation team coordinated by the NASA Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office.

Return to Earth and Sample Analysis

The Sample Return Capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere and landed at the Utah Test and Training Range where recovery teams from NASA Johnson Space Center and the US Air Force retrieved the package. Curation and preliminary examination were conducted at clean facilities at NASA Johnson Space Center with research distributed to laboratories at University of Arizona, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Caltech, Smithsonian Institution, Lunar and Planetary Institute, and international centers including Natural History Museum, London collaborators. Analytical techniques included isotopic studies using facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, mineralogical analyses at Carnegie Institution for Science, and organic molecule detection at Exobiology groups and teams formerly associated with SETI Institute projects.

Scientific Results and Discoveries

Analyses revealed Bennu contains abundant carbon-rich materials, hydrated minerals, and organic compounds, informing models of carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies and the delivery of volatiles to early Earth hypotheses investigated by researchers at Harvard University, Princeton University, and University of California, Berkeley. Remote-sensing results characterized Bennu's Bennu's surface roughness, boulder distribution, and Yarkovsky effect measurements tied to thermal modeling teams at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Pennsylvania State University. Isotopic ratios constrained volatile sources relevant to debates involving teams at Caltech and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while pebble-sized particle analyses influenced theories of planetesimal formation evaluated at Southwest Research Institute and Chicago's Field Museum collaborators.

Legacy and Follow-on Missions

The mission legacy influenced design and planning of subsequent sample-return and asteroid missions, informing programs at JAXA for Hayabusa2 comparisons, proposals at ESA for sample return initiatives, and NASA strategic planning for crewed and robotic exploration linked to Artemis program objectives. Data repositories hosted by Planetary Data System support ongoing research at universities including University of Tokyo, University of Glasgow, and University of Colorado Boulder. OSIRIS-REx's success underpins planetary defense studies at Planetary Defense Coordination Office and resource prospecting interests pursued by commercial entities and academia such as Blue Origin-adjacent research and university consortia.

Category:NASA missions Category:Spacecraft launched in 2016 Category:Sample-return missions