Artist ’ s concept shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with the Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism . Credit : NASA ’ s Goddard Space Flight Center
rocket and is due to launch on September 8 , 2016 . It has a 34-day launch window . After three years of traveling – one of those spent orbiting the Sun before using Earth ’ s gravitational field as an assist to get to Bennu – OSIRIS-REx will arrive .
A year long detailed survey will occur two months after the spacecraft nears Bennu and slows down – this is when possible sites for sample collection will be mapped out .
Once the site is chosen , the sampling arm on the spacecraft will extend towards the surface of Bennu and make contact for approximately five seconds . During this time , the arm will send out a burst of nitrogen gas which will stir up rocks and material on the surface so they can be captured by the sampler head . There is enough nitrogen in the machine for three attempts at collecting a sample , for a total of between 60 grams and 2 kilograms ( 2-70 ounces ) of material .
OSIRIS-REx will not begin its journey home until March 2021 , when the window opens for it to leave the asteroid . It will take two and a half years for it to get back to Earth , arriving in September 2023 .
The spacecraft will release the sample return capsule so it can enter the atmosphere and fall back to the ground in the Utah Test and Training Range . The science team will perform research on the sample for two years following its return , cataloging the sample and conducting
Credit : NASA analysis to achieve the goals of the mission .
At least three quarters of the sample will be remain preserved at NASA ’ s Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston so that others may conduct research on it , as well , for generations to come .
For more information on OSIRIS-REx , please visit http :// www . asteroidmission . org /.
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