AGU OSIRIS REx Arrives at Bennu Briefing

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission presented the science results gained during the spacecraft’s approach toward the asteroid Bennu at a press conference hosted during AGU’s Fall Meeting at 2 p.m. ET, Monday, Dec. 10. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft, which launched on Sept. 8, 2016, started asteroid science operations on Aug. 17, 2018, while still 1.4 million miles from the asteroid Bennu. Between that time and the spacecraft’s arrival at Bennu on Dec. 3, the mission made a number of discoveries about the asteroid. The mission represents a valuable opportunity to learn more about the origins of our solar system, the sources of water and organic molecules on Earth, and the hazards and resources in near-Earth space. The briefing participants are: Jeffrey Grossman, OSIRIS-REx program scientist at NASA Headquarters Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson Amy Simon, OVIRS deputy instrument scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Michael Nolan, OSIRIS-REx science team chief at the University of Arizona, Tucson