News

OSIRIS-REx is Good to Go!
May 16, 2013

OSIRIS-REx, NASA's asteroid sample return mission, reached a major milestone on May15, 2013: the mission passed the Agency level confirmation review called Key Decision Point-C or KDP-C. KDP-C authorized continuation of the project into the development phase giving the team the authority to proceed with development and launch in 2016.

That Asteroid has a Name!
May 1, 2013

In 2016, NASA will launch a spacecraft that will return the largest sample of an extraterrestrial object since the lunar missions ended over 35 years ago. The target of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will be a primitive asteroid with the assigned designation (101955) 1999 RQ36.

In Memoriam: Steve McClard
April 3, 2013

Steve McClard
May 31, 1953 - March 31, 2013

The OSIRIS-REx Mission is Good to Go!
April 2, 2013

After a year of preparation, the OSIRIS-REx team successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR), a major milestone for the mission. Principal Investigator, Dante Lauretta, made the announcement on March 11, 2013: “I am immensely pleased to announce that OSIRIS-REx has passed its Mission and Flight System PDR and has been deemed ready to proceed to Phase C by the Standing Review Board.”

OSIRIS-REx Mission - Finding of No Significant Impact
March 30, 2013

 

NASA has made a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with respect to the proposed OSIRIS-REx mission.

Visit the OSIRIS-REx NEPA website to view the FONSI and Final Environmental Assessment (EA) which supports the FONSI at  http://code250.gsfc.nasa.gov/environmental/osiris-rex.cfm

 

Where do ‘Primitive’ NEOs Come From?
March 26, 2013

Scientists Discover Most ‘Primitive’ NEOs Come From Two Asteroids



Scientists have discovered that two asteroids that exploded in separate collisions millions of years ago produced most of the dark, primitive-type asteroids that now swing by Earth.

“Primitive” asteroids are very dark asteroids that contain carbon and other compounds unaltered since the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.

OSIRIS-REx Bringing Workshop without Boundaries to Teachers
March 22, 2013

Challenge of Discovery Workshop

OSIRIS-REx Mission Marks the First Time Canada Participates in an Asteroid Mission
March 1, 2013

 

 

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced today that MacDonald, Dettweiler and Associates will be the prime contractor for the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), a sophisticated mapping system using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). Announcement of this contract solidifies the Canadian participation in the OSIRIS-REx mission.

One Close Fly-by: DA14 – What We Learn from NEOs
February 8, 2013

Update: On February 15, 2013 debris from a disintegrating bolide landed in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Estimates indicate that the bolide was an object of about 15 meters in diameter, on a very shallow entry (approximately 20 degrees), at an impact speed of 18 kilometers/second. To calculate the energy produced and the frequency of such an impact, we assumed (for now) that it is a rock of density 3000 kg/m3 (for dense rock) and entered these values into the Impact Earth!

OSIRIS-REx Team Flies in Near Zero-G
December 20, 2012

This fall NASA Reduced Gravity Office flew the “OSIRIS-REx Low-Gravity Regolith Sampling Tests” on NASA’s C-9 aircraft, called the “Weightless Wonder.” Each of the five flights included five test chambers and several OSIRIS-REx team members to run the tests. They were able to accomplish highly successful tests of sampling mechanisms and have some amazing fun too!