OSIRIS-REx separated from its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 8:04 p.m.
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Nasa said that the spacecraft has already deployed its solar arrays, which are powering it.
If all goes as planned, the capsule containing samples from Bennu will be jettisoned from the returning Osiris-Rex spacecraft on September 24, 2023, for a parachute descent and landing at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range. The team at NASA is particularly excited about the mission because of the numerous possibilities that lie ahead, including knowledge gain about the origin of the solar system.
Asteroids like Bennu are remnants from the formation of our solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago.
“We celebrate the bigger picture of science that is helping us make discoveries and accomplish milestones that might have been science fiction yesterday.” . Scientists believe that asteroids of this type were the source of water and organic molecules for early Earth and other planets. The probe will analyze the surface material of the asteroid, allowing scientists to choose a likely spot for the 11- foot robot arm probe to take a two-ounce sample, using nitrogen gas to stir up the contents.
OSIRIS-Rex will approach Bennu in 2018 and begin what NASA call “an intricate dance” with the asteroid.
Image: Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The University of Arizona leads the mission science team and observation planning and provided the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) instrument. “We’re honored to work with organizations like Lockheed Martin and NASA, continuing our long heritage of support to solar system exploration”. Drake, who was the director of the LPL, died in September 2011, just four months after NASA officially selected the OSIRIS-REx mission. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for its Science Mission Directorate in Washington. He was accompanied by 12-year-old Mike Puzio at NASA’s nearby Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The carbonaceous asteroid, Bennu, is about 195 million km (121 million miles) away from our beloved Earth.
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The asteroid Bennu, discovered by the LINEAR Project back in 1999 is listed as the third highest rated object with a 1 in 2700 chance of impacting Earth in the 22 century has been a potential target for sampling.
