DESCRIPTION |
The primary objective of the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource
Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is to
return pristine samples of carbonaceous material from the surface of a primitive
asteroid. The target asteroid, near-Earth object (101955) Bennu, is the most
exciting, accessible, and volatile- and organic-rich remnant from the early Solar
System. OSIRIS-REx returns a minimum of 60 g of bulk regolith and a separate
26 cm2 of fine-grained surface material from this body. Analyses of these
samples provide unprecedented knowledge about presolar history, from the
initial stages of planet formation to the origin of life. Prior to sample acquisition,
OSIRIS-REx performs comprehensive global mapping of the texture, mineralogy,
and chemistry of Bennu, resolving geological features, revealing its geologic
and dynamic history, and providing context for the returned samples. The
instruments also document the regolith at the sampling site in situ at scales down
to the sub-centimeter. In addition, OSIRIS-REx studies the Yarkovsky effect, a
non-Keplerian force affecting the orbit of this potentially hazardous asteroid
(PHA), and provides the first ground truth for telescopic observations of carbonaceous
asteroids.
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REFERENCES |
D.S. Lauretta, S.S. Balram-Knutson, E. Beshore, W.V. Boynton, C. Drouet dAubigny,
D.N. DellaGiustina, H.L. Enos, D.R. Gholish, C.W. Hergenrother, E.S. Howell,
C.A. Johnson, E.T. Morton, M.C. Nolan, B. Rizk, H.L. Roper, A.E. Bartels, B.J. Bos,
J.P. Dworkin, D.E. Highsmith, D.A. Lorenz, L.F. Lim, R. Mink, M.C. Moreau, J.A. Nuth,
D.C. Reuter, A.A. Simon, E.B. Bierhaus, B.H. Bryan, R. Ballouz, O.S. Barnouin,
R.P. Binzel, W.F. Bottke, V.E. Hamilton, K.J. Walsh, S.R. Chesley, P.R. Christensen,
B.E. Clark, H.C. Connolly, M.K. Crombie, M.G. Daly, J.P. Emery, T.J. McCoy, J.W. McMahon,
D.J. Scheeres, S. Messenger, K. Nakamura-Messenger, K. Righter, S.A. Sandford, OSIRIS-REx:
Sample Return from Asteroid (101955) Bennu, arXiv:1702.06981 [astro-ph.EP], 2017.
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