OSIRIS REX

OSIRIS REX

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Recently ,NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully returned samples from asteroid Bennu to Earth.
• The capsule containing 250 grams of rock and dust landed in Utah on Sunday.

MORE ABOUT THE NEWS :

• NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) spacecraft made a historic delivery to Earth on Sunday.
• It brought with it a capsule containing rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu back in 2020.
• This remarkable event took place at 10:55 a.m. EDT (8:25 p.m. IST) on Sunday.
• The capsule touched down precisely in a designated area within the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City.
• During this descent, two parachutes were deployed successfully to stabilize and gradually reduce the capsule’s speed, ensuring a gentle touchdown at 11 mph (18 kph).

ABOUT OSIRIS-REX:

• OSIRIS-REx is an ambitious asteroid-sampling mission.
• It launched on Sept. 8, 2016, and entered orbit around the near-Earth asteroid Bennu on Dec. 31. 2018 before a brief touchdown on Oct. 20, 2020, where it retrieved a sample from the surface of the asteroid.
• OSIRIS-REx then delivered the sample back to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, before heading off on an extended mission to study asteroid Apophis.
• The spacecraft made two deep-space maneuvers after launch. The first took place on Dec. 28, 2016, and set the spacecraft up for its gravity assist with Earth.
• As OSIRIS-REx drew closer to the asteroid, TAGSAM blasted a sample of pure nitrogen gas at the rock’s surface.

• Regolith (dust and broken rock) blasted from the surface was pushed into the chamber of the sampler.
• OSIRIS-REx was tasked with collecting at least 2 ounces (60 g) of asteroid material, with a preference for 5 ounces (150 g) to account for any measurement errors.

BENEFITS OF SAMPLES:

• The samples collected from Bennu’s surface will serve as invaluable resources for scientists worldwide
• It will help enabling groundbreaking discoveries related to planet formation, the origins of organic compounds, the presence of water, and their significance in the emergence of life on Earth.
• Additionally, this mission will enhance our knowledge of potentially hazardous asteroids, contributing to the safety and well-being of humanity.

SYLLABUS: PRELIMS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY