Live Coverage of OSIRES-REx Spacecraft Arrival at Asteroid Bennu

NASA's OSIRES-REx arrives at asteroid Bennu today at around Noon EST (17:00 UTC). NASA TV will have live coverage starting at 11:45 AM EST (16:45 UTC).

I'm not sure what we will "see" of the arrival, but it's interesting never the less.


Link to stream:
www.nasa.gov...

For those who are unfamiliar with the OSIRES-REx mission, NASA plans to grab chunks of the asteroid Bennu and send the sample in a separate sample return capsule back to Earth for study. The spacecraft itself also has a suite of instruments for studying Bennu while in orbit.

OSIRES-REx Mission:
www.nasa.gov...

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

How spoiled are we , InSight last week OSIRES-REx this week , NASA just keep on giving.
Here's hoping for a successful arrival , much science to be done.

This really is a Golden Age for science.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People

I'm not sure what we will "see" of the arrival, but it's interesting never the less.

As I suspected, we weren't going to see much about OSIRES-REx's actual arrival other than a guy looking at the Doppler Information and proclaiming "We have arrived".



But still, it's good news that it arrived as it was supposed to, and we can now look forward much more cool stuff to come as the science begins.

Still, I got to watch the Soyuz docking, so thanks OP.

Bennu looks remarkably similar to Ryugu. www.asteroidmission.org...

Looks like somebody got a probe there before we did.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People


We have a wait.

They will not bounce off the surface until 2020.

And there is the launch on Friday. Still waiting to hear back from the Parker Solar Probe. And TESS. There is a lot up in the air (groan!)

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

[tongue in cheek]

So...is it flat, too?

Asking for a friend.

[/tongue in cheek]


This stuff is sooo cool!! Lots of pictures for nit wits like myself to oooh and wow over, and lots of instruments for those who are smarter than I.

a reply to: Blue Shift

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!! Don't start that stuff......now my brain won't switch off to it!!!!!!!!

originally posted by: wildespace
Bennu looks remarkably similar to Ryugu. www.asteroidmission.org...

...And both look eerily similar to a ciabatta roll

More proof that the Apollo Missions were filmed in a studio in Kubrick's back yard, the Mars rover missions are filmed in an Arizona desert, and the missions to Ryagu and Bennu are filmed in the sandwich shop down the street.

OSIRIS-REx has found evidence for water on Bennu.

In a key finding for the mission's science investigation, data obtained from the spacecraft's two spectrometers, the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emissions Spectrometer (OTES), reveal the presence of molecules that contain oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together, known as "hydroxyls."

The team suspects that these hydroxyl groups exist globally across the asteroid in water-bearing clay minerals, meaning that at some point, the rocky material interacted with water. While Bennu itself is too small to have ever hosted liquid water, the finding does indicate that liquid water was present at some time on Bennu's parent body, a much larger asteroid.
www.sciencedaily.com...

n a key finding for the mission's science investigation, data obtained from the spacecraft's two spectrometers, the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emissions Spectrometer (OTES), reveal the presence of molecules that contain oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together, known as "hydroxyls." The team suspects that these hydroxyl groups exist globally across the asteroid in water-bearing clay minerals, meaning that at some point, the rocky material interacted with water. While Bennu itself is too small to have ever hosted liquid water, the finding does indicate that liquid water was present at some time on Bennu's parent body, a much larger asteroid.

phys.org, Dec. 10, 2018 - OSIRIS-REx discovers water on asteroid, confirms Bennu as excellent mission target.

Hydroxyls, huh? That is wild! Bennu is a water bird!

They are going insert into orbit Dec. 31. Gee, these Osiris jokes are gonna write themselves!

a reply to: gortex


We almost double posted!!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF


Now that is interesting. All sorts of ramifications come to mind.

How did those clays get there?!

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

Is it me or does this look like a burnt charcoal briquette from my back yard?

originally posted by: wildespace
How did those clays get there?!

Maybe the clay formed long ago on the larger body from whence Bennu came.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

That would seem to be the Occam's Razor explanation, wouldn't it?

So many interesting things are going to come to light, I think...this one sounds very interesting. Even to a layman like myself.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

From the narrative..

the finding does indicate that liquid water was present at some time on Bennu's parent body, a much larger asteroid....

I would say parent body is destroyed planet, given the granularity of existing asteroid strata. Crusts, mantles and cores.
This being a part of crust which had contact with ocean, lake , river?

a reply to: charlyv

Think bigger!

Protogalaxy, lots of water (and/or hydroxides) it was flying through. Picking it up along the way like all biggish objects (where earth probably got its water from) It doesn’t become part of a major solar body and when we have enough collective brain power to get to space we confirm our suspicions.

I mean the thing was targeted after all! lol... (ETA: Bennu was selected for a reason)