NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to return samples of Asteroid Bennu to Earth. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center ...

Bennu was the target for NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling mission, which touched down briefly on the space rock in October 2020 to gather over 4 ounces of material, and then brought that sample ...

When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft closely approached Bennu three years ago, it extended a Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism head, or TAGSAM, toward the asteroid and fired a blast of nitrogen ...

They showed images of Bennu snapped by OSIRIS-REx on Oct. 29 from 205 miles away — a little less than the distance between Los Angeles and Las Vegas — using the multi-functional PolyCam camera ...

This helped OSIRIS-REx to scoop up 121.6 g (4.29 oz), far more than the amount that would have made the mission a success. By returning the sample to Earth, the asteroid's chemical profile was ...

The OSIRIS-REx team says this suggests Bennu — or at least the parent asteroid from which Bennu is believed to have broken off — must have once existed in the colder, outer regions of space ...

Charcoal-colored debris from the asteroid Bennu waits to be collected from the sampling canister of the University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx space mission in 2023. The rocks and dust have begun to ...

NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission is currently orbiting the 500-m (1,640-ft.) wide Bennu at just 680 m altitude, breaking a record the spacecraft previously set when it maneuvered ...

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned samples from asteroid Bennu, which showed discoveries about life and the early solar system. These findings can now provide information into the potential ...

The OSIRIS-REx probe arrived at the 1,850-foot-wide asteroid in 2020, scooped up rock and dirt, and then jetted back to Earth. On Sept. 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx return capsule parachuted down to a ...

First discovered in 1999, Bennu, the near-Earth asteroid, could possibly drift into the planet's orbit and could hit the planet by September 2182, according to the OSIRIS-REx science team.

HOUSTON—Osiris-Rex, the first U.S. asteroid sample return mission, embarked late Sept. 8 on a seven-year, round trip encounter with the Near Earth Object Bennu.