Monday, December 31, 2018

OSIRIS-REx is orbiting Bennu


About 2:40-ish this afternoon, NASA's OSIRIS-REx entered orbit around Near-Earth Object asteroid Bennu.  Its name is the anagram of Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer.

It was launched in September 2016 and reached the asteroid earlier this month.  Bennu is the smallest body to be orbited by a spacecraft.  Bennu is only about 492 m or 1600 ft in diameter, about the height of the Empire State Building.

OSIRIS-REx will spend some time analyzing the surface and will return to Earth with a sample from the asteroid in September 2023.

No comments: