OSIRIS-REx Bennu Impact Probability – Media Telecon

  • Released Wednesday, August 11, 2021
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NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 11, to discuss an important finding from NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft.

OSIRIS-REx spent over two years near the asteroid Bennu, which is a third of a mile (500 meters) wide. During that time, the spacecraft gathered information about Bennu’s size, shape, mass, and composition while monitoring its spin and orbital trajectory. Before leaving the near-Earth object May 10, 2021, the spacecraft scooped up a sample of rock and dust from the asteroid’s surface. OSIRIS-REx will return the sample to Earth Sept. 24, 2023, for further scientific study.

The teleconference will stream live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/live

Participants in the briefing will be:

• Dante Lauretta, study co-author and OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson

• Davide Farnocchia, study lead author and scientist with the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California

• Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

• Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington

For more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission to Bennu, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

Learn more about asteroid Bennu’s updated impact hazard.

Read the science paper on Icarus.

1. Lauretta - OSIRIS-REx Orbit DiagramCredit: Mike Moreau/NASA

1. Lauretta - OSIRIS-REx Orbit Diagram

Credit: Mike Moreau/NASA

2. Lauretta - Web Around Asteroid Bennu

Bennu, Earth, and OSIRIS-REx Orbit Diagram

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SVS

3. Lauretta - OSIRIS-REx Returns to Earth

Artist's Concept of OSIRIS-REx's return to Earth with a sample from Asteroid Bennu in September 2023.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/CILabs

1. Farnocchia- Bennu 2135 Orbit Visualization

Credit - NASA/Goddard

2. Farnocchia - Bennu Keyhole Explainer Animation

In 2135, asteroid Bennu will make a close flyby of Earth. Our planet’s gravity will tweak Bennu’s path, making it a challenge to calculate its future trajectory. During the flyby, Bennu has an extremely small chance of passing through a “gravitational keyhole” that would set it on a path to impact Earth late in the 22nd century.

Credit: NASA/Goddard

3. Farnocchia - Sunlight alters the orbit of a rotating asteroid (Yarkovsky effect).

Credit: NASA/Goddard

4. Farnocchia - Reducing Keyholes for Bennu

New data from OSIRIS-REx allowed scientists to significantly reduce uncertainties in Bennu’s predicted orbit, ruling out a number of keyholes for the 2135 flyby, and eliminating several future impact scenarios.

Credit: NASA/Goddard

5. Farnocchia - Bennu 2182 Orbit Visualization

Credit: NASA/Goddard

1. Dworkin - OSIRIS-REx Sample Stowage

Imagery from the SamCam of OSIRIS-REx as it stows sample collected from asteroid Bennu.

Credit: NASA/Goddard

2. Dworkin - Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility at Johnson Space Center

Footage of the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility at Johnson Space Center, including lunar rock and soil samples undergoing processing.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/JSC

1. Johnson - NASA Planetary Defense BannerCredit: NASA

1. Johnson - NASA Planetary Defense Banner

Credit: NASA

2. Johnson - Planetary Defense Coordination Office LogoCredit: NASA

2. Johnson - Planetary Defense Coordination Office Logo

Credit: NASA

For More Information

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Credits

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Wednesday, August 11, 2021.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:44 PM EDT.

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