OSIRIS-REx is a NASA mission that traveled to the asteroid Bennu, collected a sample, and returned it to Earth. Scientists believe Bennu holds clues to the early solar system and the origins of life.

NASA’s Mission to an Ancient Asteroid

Bennu is a near-Earth asteroid rich in carbon, meaning it may contain organic materials. Studying it can help us understand how planets formed and whether asteroids delivered life-building ingredients to Earth.

Why Did NASA Choose Bennu?

Launched in 2016, OSIRIS-REx reached Bennu in 2018, spent two years studying it, collected a sample in 2020, and returned to Earth in 2023. This complex mission helped test space exploration techniques for future missions.

The Journey: From Earth to Bennu and Back

The spacecraft used a robotic arm called TAGSAM to briefly touch Bennu’s surface and collect rock and dust. This "touch-and-go" method was a first-of-its-kind success in NASA’s history.

How Did OSIRIS-REx Grab a Piece of an Asteroid?

The sample from Bennu is being studied to uncover secrets about the formation of the solar system. It may help answer questions about how water and organic molecules reached Earth billions of years ago.

What Can Bennu’s Rocks Tell Us About the Past?

After dropping off Bennu’s sample, the spacecraft was renamed OSIRIS-APEX and is now heading toward another asteroid, Apophis, which will pass close to Earth in 2029. This mission continues NASA’s asteroid exploration journey.

The Future: What’s Next After OSIRIS-REx?

“Asteroids are like time capsules floating in space, holding secrets of our solar system’s past.”

These posts cover all key aspects of OSIRIS-REx while keeping them engaging and easy to understand.

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History

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Science Fiction

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Technology & The Future

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Science & Nature

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Space

OSIRIS-REx : A asteroid sample return space mission

The BioSentinel mission was selected as one of the secondary payloads, to fly on the first launch of the Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis I missionThe primary objective of BioSentinel is to develop a biosensor instrument to detect and measure the impact of space radiation on living organisms over long durations beyond low-Earth Orbit (LEO).

Introduction

BioSentinel will address strategic knowledge gaps related to the biological effects of space radiation, and will provide an adaptable platform to perform human- relevant measurements in multiple space environments in the future. The BioSentinel biosensor utilizes the budding yeast to query the biological response to ambient deep space radiation, including DNA damageGrowth and metabolic activity of the yeast cells will be measured using a 3-color LED detection system and the metabolic indicator.

Science Goals Of Mission

Yeast is the ideal organism for this mission because of its spaceflight heritage, well-characterized genetic tools, and its capacity to survive long period space radiation. Most Importantly, yeast’s DNA damage repair processes are highly similar to that of humans. The biosensor contains two genetically engineered yeast strains: a wild type strain that serves as a control for yeast health and “normal” DNA damage repair, and a rad51 deletion strain, which is defective for DNA damage repair.

Why Yeast?? 

The BioSentinel mission is funded by the Advanced Exploration Systems program within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.Partner organizations include NASA Ames Research Center for the development of BioSentinel, and NASA Johnson Space Center for the LET spectrometer.

Partners & Funding

A biology experiment on a small, deep-space satellite will study radiation exposure to help NASA prepare to send humans farther than they’ve ever gone before.

What is BioSentinel?

South Korea is launching the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or KPLO, to the Moon in 2 August 2022 with SpaceX falcon 9 Rocket. KPLO will study the Moon’s surface and help us plan future missions to the lunar poles.KPLO represents the first step in South Korea’s Moon exploration plans, which aims for a robotic landing mission and more.

KPLO will allow it to reach the Moon by mid-December as planned regardless of any launch delays.After entering a roughly 100-kilometer circular lunar orbit, KPLO will study the Moon for at least a year with its five scientific instruments.This will help us better understand the Moon’s surface composition and the nature of its varied volcanic deposits.

How will KPLO study the Moon?

<ol><li>KPLO have two cameras, one of which will image the Moon’s surface at a high resolution of 2.5 meters per pixel. </li><li>Wide-angle polarimetric camera, can determine the type of surface materials based on the way light reflects and scatters off them.</li><li>Gamma-ray spectrometer, which will look at highly energetic gamma rays released from the Moon.</li><li>A magnetometer - The Mo.on has lost its global magnetic field, by measuring their weak magnetic fields from orbit, KPLO will help us understand the extent of protection they offer from harmful space radiation, and the nature of the Moon’s leftover magnetic areas. </li></ol>

Instruments Of Spacecraft

ShadowCam’s camera is at least 200 times more sensitive than the one on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.This will allow it to see a shadowed region on the Moon as if it was sunlit! ShadowCam will map the terrain inside permanently shadowed regions with a very high resolution, and help locate their water ice deposits and other such volatile resources based on how they reflect light.

NASA ShadowCam Camera

ShadowCam isn’t the only NASA contribution to KPLO.In March 2021, NASA selected nine scientists to join KPLO’s science team to help enhance the mission’s scientific output.NASA and South Korea will also test a kind of an interplanetary internet on KPLO, which should be resistant to communications disruptions.NASA is also providing technical assistance on mission design, deep space communications, and navigation technologies.

How are NASA and South Korea collaborating to explore the Moon?

The KPLO mission comprises the first phase of South Korea’s lunar exploration program.In the second phase, they plan to launch another lunar orbiter, a lander, and a rover.In March 2021, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the robotic lunar lander will launch on an indigenously developed rocket before 2030.

What’s next for South Korea in lunar exploration?

The lunar orbiter will launch South Korea’s deep space ambitions.

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Korea Pathfinder, South Korea’s first Moon mission

When a spacecraft built for humans ventures into deep space, it requires an array of features to keep it and a crew inside safe.

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify"> As humans travel farther from Earth for longer missions, the systems that keep them alive must be highly reliable while taking up minimal mass and volume. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Even small systems have to function reliably to support life in space, from a working toilet to an automated fire suppression system or exercise equipment that helps astronauts stay in shape to counteract the zero-gravity environment in space </li></ul>

Systems to Live and Breathe

<ul><li>The farther into space a vehicle ventures, the more capable its propulsion systems need to be to maintain its course on the journey with precision and ensure its crew can get home.</li></ul>

Proper Propulsion

<ul><li>Going to the Moon is no easy task, and it’s only half the journey. The farther a spacecraft travels in space, the more heat it will generate as it returns to Earth. Getting back safely requires technologies that can help a spacecraft endure speeds 30 times the speed of sound and heat twice as hot as molten lava or half as hot as the sun.</li></ul>

The Ability to Hold Off the Heat

<ul><li>As a spacecraft travels on missions beyond the protection of Earth’s magnetic field, it will be exposed to a harsher radiation environment than in low-Earth orbit with greater amounts of radiation from charged particles and solar storms that can cause disruptions to critical computers, avionics and other equipment.</li><li>Humans exposed to large amounts of radiation can experience both acute and chronic health problems ranging from near-term radiation sickness to the potential of developing cancer in the long-term.</li></ul>

Radiation Protection

<ul><li>Spacecraft venturing far from home go beyond the Global Positioning System (GPS) in space and above communication satellites in Earth orbit. To talk with mission control in Houston, Orion will use all three of NASA’s space communications networks.As it rises from the launch pad and into cislunar space, Orion will switch from the Near Earth Network to the Space Network, made possible by the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, and finally to the Deep Space Network that provides communications for some of NASA’s most distant spacecraft. </li></ul>

Constant Communication and Navigation

As humans travel farther from Earth for longer missions, the systems that keep them alive must be highly reliable while taking up minimal mass and volume.

OSIRIS-REx : A asteroid sample return space mission

What is BioSentinel?

Korea Pathfinder, South Korea’s first Moon mission

Top Five Technologies Needed for a Spacecraft to Survive Deep Space

The Astroman