[News Terms] OSIRIS-REx, the First US Spacecraft to Send Asteroid Soil

The capsule of OSIRIS-REx, which collected soil and gravel from the asteroid ‘Bennu,’ returned to Earth on the 24th (local time).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

OSIRIS-REx is an asteroid research space probe operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The probe’s name is derived from the acronyms of Origins, Spectral Interpretation (SI), Resource Identification (RI), Security, and Regolith Explorer (REx). The OSIRIS-REx project, conducted to collect samples from the asteroid Bennu, involved an investment of one billion dollars, and the spacecraft was manufactured by the American defense and aerospace company Lockheed Martin.

The power source is solar energy, with six sections of solar panels located at the rear of the spacecraft. These panels rotate to face the sun according to the orbit to recharge. The front of the spacecraft is equipped with three types of cameras (PolyCam, MapCam, SamCam) to measure and observe the shape and surface of the asteroid. A robotic arm (TAGSAM, Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) is also mounted at the front. The robotic arm collects samples by firing compressed nitrogen gas onto the surface to lift surrounding soil and gravel, then stores them in the capsule.

▲The mission to collect samples from an asteroid and bring them back to Earth begins. [Photo by NASA]

OSIRIS-REx was launched on September 8, 2016, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard an Atlas V 411. About two years after launch, it arrived over Bennu in December 2018 and spent approximately two years orbiting and conducting exploration activities before landing in October 2020. After landing, the 3.35-meter-long robotic arm collected soil and gravel samples and set off on its return journey to Earth in May 2021. On this day, seven years later, the sample capsule safely returned to Earth, marking this probe as the first American spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid.

After safely delivering the Bennu sample capsule to Earth, the OSIRIS-REx probe is continuing its flight to conduct exploration activities on another asteroid, ‘Apophis.’

The scientific community expects that, since the composition of asteroids remains largely unaltered, the Bennu sample capsule can be utilized for research on the formation of the solar system and the origins of life.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.