Planets and Moons ID: 13730

NASA’s Asteroid Heist: The Challenges of TAG

Released on October 14, 2020

NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, will make a daring attempt to “TAG” asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20 – touch its surface and collect a sample for return to Earth. Sample site Nightingale, the mission’s targeted touch down spot, is only a few parking spaces wide and surrounded by building-sized boulders that pose a hazard to OSIRIS-REx. The spacecraft will carefully navigate down to the sample site with its sampling arm extended and touch Bennu’s surface for several seconds. Upon contact, the collector head will fire a bottle of nitrogen gas to agitate loose material, which is then caught in the spacecraft’s collector head. After this brief touch, OSIRIS-REx will fire its thrusters to back away from Bennu, navigating to a safe distance from the asteroid. The spacecraft will depart Bennu in 2021 and deliver the sample to Earth on Sep. 24, 2023.

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Source Material

For More Information

NASA.gov

asteroidmission.org

Credits

Lead Producer:
Dan Gallagher (USRA)

Producer:
James Tralie (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Editor:
James Tralie (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Animators:
James Tralie (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Krystofer Kim (USRA)
Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA)
Bailee DesRocher (USRA)
Jacquelyn DeMink (USRA)
Jonathan North (USRA)
Josh Masters (Freelance)

Lead Animator:
Walt Feimer (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Videographers:
Rob Andreoli (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
John Caldwell (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)

Set Construction:
Chris Meaney (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Art Director:
Michael Lentz (USRA)

Lead Visualizer:
Kel Elkins (USRA)

Visualizer:
Ernie Wright (USRA)

Interviewees:
Nayi Castro (KBRwyle)
Michael Moreau (NASA/GSFC)
David A. Lorenz (SGT)

Technical Support:
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Support:
Erin Morton (The University of Arizona)
Nancy Neal-Jones (NASA/GSFC)
Michael Starobin (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center