OSIRIS-REx mission to Bennu asteroid

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will touch down in 2020 to collect a sample from the surface of Bennu – a carbon-rich asteroid which may contain the molecular precursors to the origin of life on Earth


OSIRIS REx: Launched 2016. Will begin survey of Bennu from Feb 2019

Bennu: 510m wide. Probably part of much larger asteroid – leftover debris from formation of solar system

Sample Return Capsule (SRC): Sample arm places sample head into SRC. Capsule is closed and sealed for cruise back to Earth, arriving in 2023

TAGSAM: Two-metre long Touch-and-Go Sample Arm Mechanism uses high-pressure nitrogen to kick up
regolith material

Sample head: Captures particles up to two centimetres in diameter during five-second contact


Heat shield

Cameras, spectrometers, sensors

Sample head

Sample Return Capsule


Sources: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Arizona 
Picture: NASA
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