OSIRIS-REX ENTERS ORBIT AROUND BENNU FOR FIRST TIME, Dec 31, 2018 (follow on Twitter @UALPL)

UPDATE, Dec. 26:  NASA is currently closed due a lapse in funding because Congress and the President could not agree on a new appropriations measure to replace the Continuing Resolution (CR) that expired on Dec. 21.   If it is still closed on Dec. 31, one will be able to follow O-REx’s progress by following the mission on the UALAL Twitter feed (@UALAL).  Note that the O-REx Twtter feed (@OSIRISRex) is a NASA account and cannot be updated during the shutdown, so use @UALAL instead.  Also, O-REx has a non-government website, asteroidmission.org, where information can be obtained.  Any press releases will be issued by the University of Arizona’s press site.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (O-REx) asteroid sample return mission will go into orbit around the asteroid Bennu for the first time on December 31, 2018.  It arrived at Bennu on December 3 and has been flying around the asteroid to survey its characteristics since then, but has not been in orbit.

OSIRIS-REx is an acronym for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.

Instruments on the spacecraft will continue to study the asteroid from orbit 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.

Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab (UALPL) is the Principal Investigator for this mission and is it operated from there.