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NASA EVENT FOR ARRIVAL OF OSIRIS-REX AT BENNU, Dec 3, 2018, Littleton, CO, 11:45 am – 12:15 pm ET (webcast)
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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (O-REx) asteroid sample return mission will arrive at its destination, the asteroid Bennu, on December 3, 2018.
OSIRIS-REx is an acronym for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.
After arrival it will orbit and study the asteroid to determine the best place from which to obtain a sample for return to Earth. It will collect the sample using a robotic arm called TAGSAM (for Touch-and-Go Sample) on July 4, 2020 and then begin the trip home. The sample return canister will land on Earth on March 3, 2021.
From 11:45 am – 12:15 pm ET on December 3, NASA will air a live event from O-REx mission control at Lockheed Martin Space facility in Littleton, CO. It will air on NASA TV’s public channel, Facebook Live, Ustream, YouTube and the agency’s NASA Live website. NASA TV also will air an arrival preview program starting at 11:15 a.m. EST.
Participants in the arrival event are:
- Michelle Thaller, moderator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md
- Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md
- Heather Enos, OSIRIS-REx deputy principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson
- Mark Fisher, OSIRIS-REx spacecraft engineer, Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colo.
- Coralie Adam, OSIRIS-REx flight navigator, KinetX, Inc. Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics, Simi Valley, Calif.
On Dec. 3. media and the public may ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA on Twitter or by leaving a comment on the livestream of the event on the OSIRIS-REx Mission Facebook page.