Destination Asteroid

  • Released Sunday, October 1, 2017
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Not far from Earth, dark bodies of rock circle the sun in lonely orbits. These near Earth objects, or NEOs, are asteroids found outside the traditional belt between Mars and Jupiter. Protected from the gravitational tugs and tumbles that affect objects found closer to the gas giant, these asteroids may contain clues about the origins of the solar system. That's why experts from NASA and The University of Arizona want to send a research vehicle to collect a sample. That's OSIRIS. Once approved, the OSIRIS vehicle would leave Earth on a multi-year mission to map and collect samples from a particular NEO called RQ-36.
In DESTINATION: ASTEROID, we look behind the scenes as a team of government scientists demonstrates for a visiting group of reporters how the mission will work. This short film explores the basics of the mission, including scientific goals, technical design plans, and a timeline of planned events. Imagination and invention meet in this spirited paean to NASA's legacy for great feats of exploration and discovery. Join us as we set our navigation systems to DESTINATION: ASTEROID.

In DESTINATION: ASTEROID, we plunge into a retro-looking future. Get a novel look at NASA's exciting plan to visit a nearby asteroid, grab a sample, and bring it home.

The transcript for this movie can be found here.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Sunday, October 1, 2017.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:47 PM EDT.

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