Adirondack Sky Center
Tupper Lake, New York
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Astro Quiz 13: What is OSIRIS-REx?

Question #12 – What is NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft doing and why is it so important to the inhabitants of Earth?


OSIRIS-REx is a robotic spacecraft in orbit around a small asteroid named Bennu. Asteroid Bennu orbits the Sun near the Earth, and has a diameter of only 1/3 of a mile! Actual samples of the asteroid will be collected in 2020 and brought back to Earth for study in 2023.

Understanding the composition of Bennu is important because there is a small chance that Bennu will hit the Earth in the late 22nd century!

More information can be found on the OSIRIS-REx Mission page.

Bennu North Pole Flyover (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)

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