Osiris-rex

• 

  Bennu Asteroid Sample Reveals Organic Compounds That May Hint at Life Beyond Earth

  NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has delivered a sample from asteroid Bennu, revealing amino acids, nucleobases, ammonia, and minerals formed in saltwater. These organic compounds, vital to life, suggest that the building blocks for life might have existed in other regions of the early solar system. The discovery of evaporite minerals, including halite ...

• 

  Organic Molecules in Space: A Key to Understanding Life's Cosmic Origins

  Organic molecules, the building blocks of life, have been discovered across space—from interstellar clouds to asteroids and comets. Findings from missions like Rosetta, Hayabusa2, and Osiris-Rex reveal that these compounds existed long before the Sun formed. Scientists believe organic molecules survived planetary formation in protoplanetary disks...

• 

  Asteroid Bennu Examines Potential Fifth Force and Dark Matter Connection

  Research on asteroid Bennu reveals no evidence of a potential fifth force that could explain dark matter. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission tracked Bennu’s orbit with exceptional accuracy, allowing scientists to examine for subtle deviations. This study provides insight into the unknown forces in the universe and suggests that further investigation of ...

• 

  NASA Finally Opens Asteroid Canister, 4.6 Billion-Year-Old Secrets Revealed

  The curation team will release a catalog of all the Bennu samples later this year, which will allow scientists and institutions around the world to submit requests for research or display.

• 

  NASA Launches Spacecraft To Intercept 'God Of Chaos' Asteroid As It Nears Earth's Orbit

  The asteroid Apophis also known as ''God of Chaos'' is expected to fly by Earth on April 13, 2029, from about only 20,000 miles away.

• 

  Origins Of Life On Earth: 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Asteroid Holds Clues

  Scientists are hopeful that fragments from a 4.5-billion-year-old space rock will reveal the origins of our existence.

• 

  NASA Astronomers Predict Near-Earth Asteroid's 2029 Close Encounter

  About 5 and a 1/2 years from now, astronomers predict, an asteroid about as wide as the Empire State Building is tall will streak through space within 20,000 miles (32,200 kms) of Earth, the closest any celestial object of that size will have come to our planet in modern history.

• 

  NASA Unable To Remove Remaining Asteroid Sample From Container, Working On New Ways

  There are more samples to collect, however, the teams at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) are now struggling to open the canister.

• 

  Ancient Space Rocks May Hold Clues To Earth's Formation, Says NASA

  The image shows a canister, which is a gray metal cylinder. Inside, dark, powdery asteroid sample material can be seen.

• 

  NASA Unveils Newly Returned Carbon-Rich Asteroid Sample

  NASA on Wednesday gave the public a first glimpse of what scientists found inside a sealed capsule that was returned to Earth last month carrying a carbon-rich soil sample scooped from an asteroid's surface, including water-bearing clay minerals. A small quantity of the material collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft three years ago from the near-E...

• 

  NASA's First Asteroid Sample On Track For Sunday Parachute Landing In Utah

  A NASA space capsule carrying a sample of rocky material plucked from the surface of an asteroid three years ago hurtled toward Earth this weekend headed for a fiery plunge through the atmosphere and a parachute landing in the Utah desert on Sunday.

• 

  NASA's Historic Asteroid Space Probe Set To Return To Earth After 7 Years

  NASA's first mission to retrieve an asteroid sample and return it to US is expected to reach a perilous finale on Sunday with a descent into the Utah desert. Scientists hope the material will help understand the formation of solar system.

• 

  Asteroid Bennu’s Surface Like a Pit of Plastic Balls, NASA’s Spacecraft Almost Sank Into It, Say Scientists

  While scientists believed that asteroid Bennu had a smooth and plain surface, they were recently astonished to learn the true nature of its exterior. An analysis of the data gathered by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft revealed that Bennu's surface consists of loosely packed particles that resemble a pit filled with plastic balls. 

• 

  NASA Shares Photo of Asteroid Bennu as OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Heads Back to Earth After Collecting Samples

  NASA shared an Instagram post showing the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu, from which the space agency has collected samples using its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which will return to Earth in 2023.

• 

  OSIRIS-REx Space Probe Heads Home With Asteroid Dust From Bennu

  The US space probe OSIRIS-REx left the orbit of the asteroid Bennu, from which it collected dust samples last year, to begin its long journey back to Earth.