The university-led OSIRIS-REx mission has set an Oct. 20 date for the spacecraft to reach down and grab a sample from the rocky surface of the asteroid Bennu, tens of millions of miles from Earth.

Scientists simulated what would happen if a medium-size asteroid were to strike Earth. One of those space rocks, asteroid Bennu, has a 1-in-2,700 chance of hitting Earth in the year 2182.

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 OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return team has revealed exciting evidence of the precursors of life in the pieces of space rock Bennu.

Bennu has a 1-in-2,700 chance of colliding with Earth by the end of the 22nd century. Scientists will be able to better predict an asteroid’s trajectory by studying Bennu’s orbit and the ...

The sample collected from the 4.5 billion-year-old near-Earth asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission arrived on Earth in a capsule on September 24, dropping from the ...

The Bennu asteroid sample, brought back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2023, apparently contained evidence of past saltwater, which could have served as the "broth" for these ...

Scientists find traces of life’s building blocks in historic asteroid samples New discoveries from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission were 'a complete surprise.' Tom Hawking Jan 29, 2025 11:00 AM EST ...

The Osiris-Rex spacecraft entered orbit Monday around the asteroid Bennu, 70 million miles (110 million kilometers) from Earth. It's the smallest celestial body ever to be orbited by a spacecraft.

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 ...