1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,004
Two years ago, in September
2016, OSIRIS-REx launched...

2
00:00:04,004 --> 00:00:06,206
[rocket engine burn]
>>ANNOUNCER’S VOICE: And liftoff

3
00:00:06,206 --> 00:00:09,843
of OSIRIS-REx! [cheering] Oh my
gosh! Woo! ...NASA’s first

4
00:00:09,843 --> 00:00:12,479
mission to go collect a sample
from an asteroid and return it

5
00:00:12,479 --> 00:00:16,516
to Earth. Now it’s August of
2018, and OSIRIS-REx is finally

6
00:00:16,516 --> 00:00:20,087
approaching its target, asteroid
Bennu. [music starts] What is

7
00:00:20,087 --> 00:00:23,924
the approach phase of the
OSIRIS-REx mission? The approach

8
00:00:23,924 --> 00:00:29,863
phase is when we reach about two
million kilometers from the

9
00:00:29,863 --> 00:00:33,233
asteroid Bennu. You know we’ve
been approaching Bennu ever

10
00:00:33,233 --> 00:00:35,903
since we launched, but once we
reach this period where we’re

11
00:00:35,903 --> 00:00:39,540
about two million kilomters
away, that’s when our cameras

12
00:00:39,540 --> 00:00:44,378
can start to pick up Bennu and
see it as a single pixel in the

13
00:00:44,378 --> 00:00:46,780
image. So what will you be doing
throughout this approach phase?

14
00:00:46,780 --> 00:00:49,049
Sure, so I’m part of the flight
dynamics team, and we’re

15
00:00:49,049 --> 00:00:52,886
responsible for navigating the
spacecraft. During the approach

16
00:00:52,886 --> 00:00:55,856
phase, we’ll figure out our best
estimate of where the spacecraft

17
00:00:55,856 --> 00:00:58,792
is relative to the asteroid and
also where the asteroid is

18
00:00:58,792 --> 00:01:01,662
relative to the rest of the
solar system. And during this

19
00:01:01,662 --> 00:01:04,865
phase, will you be looking out
for any sort of hazards around

20
00:01:04,865 --> 00:01:07,701
the asteroid, like little moons
or dust? Yeah absolutely. We

21
00:01:07,701 --> 00:01:10,370
have specific science
observation campaigns where

22
00:01:10,370 --> 00:01:13,440
they’ll be looking for small
satellite possibilities or

23
00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,411
activity on the asteroid. So
Lori, I know your background is

24
00:01:17,411 --> 00:01:21,181
planetary science. As a
planetary scientist, how excited

25
00:01:21,181 --> 00:01:24,251
are you about the OSIRIS-REx
mission and about bringing a

26
00:01:24,251 --> 00:01:27,621
sample of an asteroid back for
the first time for NASA? This is

27
00:01:27,621 --> 00:01:30,424
incredibly exciting. The
asteroids are the building

28
00:01:30,424 --> 00:01:33,527
blocks of the solar system,
that’s what built and made up

29
00:01:33,527 --> 00:01:36,663
our planets. They possibly carry
the building blocks, the

30
00:01:36,663 --> 00:01:40,801
molecules that could lead to
life. But even more than that,

31
00:01:40,801 --> 00:01:44,871
most of our missions we send a
satellite to go orbit a planet

32
00:01:44,871 --> 00:01:48,642
or maybe a lander to go land on
the surface. But they stay there

33
00:01:48,642 --> 00:01:52,045
and do their science at that
location. OSIRIS-REx is going to

34
00:01:52,045 --> 00:01:56,116
grab a sample and bring it back
to Earth. And that is really

35
00:01:56,116 --> 00:02:01,088
special and unique. We can not
only analyze that sample today,

36
00:02:01,088 --> 00:02:04,124
but then we can save that sample
and as our knowledge grows in

37
00:02:04,124 --> 00:02:07,527
the future and as our laboratory
capabilities grow in the future,

38
00:02:07,527 --> 00:02:10,664
we can go back and reanalyze
that sample. It will be there

39
00:02:10,664 --> 00:02:14,434
for us to keep learning from for
years and years, decades and

40
00:02:14,434 --> 00:02:17,938
decades to come. OSIRIS-REx will
arrive at Bennu in December of

41
00:02:17,938 --> 00:02:21,041
this year, 2018, and then it
will spend the next year and a

42
00:02:21,041 --> 00:02:24,811
half studying the asteroid. In
July of 2020, OSIRIS-REx will

43
00:02:24,811 --> 00:02:27,314
collect a sample from the
surface of Bennu, and then it

44
00:02:27,314 --> 00:02:31,184
will deliver that sample to
Earth in 2023. So stay tuned

45
00:02:31,184 --> 00:02:33,620
over the next several months and
years to learn about the

46
00:02:33,620 --> 00:02:36,757
spacecraft’s progress in helping
us unveil the mysteries of our

47
00:02:36,757 --> 00:02:39,026
solar system’s formation.

48
00:02:39,026 --> 00:02:42,362
[OSIRIS- REx logo]

49
00:02:42,362 --> 00:02:45,499
[satellite swooshes by, beep
beep, beep beep, beep beep]

50
00:02:45,499 --> 00:00:00,000
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
www.nasa.gov/goddard