February 12, 2013 / Modified feb 13, 2013 8:06 a.m.

OSIRIS REx Mission Progresses

Goal to reach asteroid in 2018 on track

<video id="my-video" class="video-js vjs-fluid" controls preload="auto" width="1080" height="608" poster="https://media.azpm.org/master/image/2013/2/12/cove-mez/021213_osiris_rex_update_cove_image.jpg" data-setup="{}"

<source src="https://media.azpm.org/master/video/2013/2/13/hrhd/osiris-rex.mp4" type='video/mp4'>
<span class="vjs-no-js">
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a
web browser that

supports HTML5 video

VIDEO: AZPM

Key Tucson team members of the OSIRIS REx Asteroid Sample return mission will be heading to Denver in early March for the final review of Phase B of the mission.

OSIRIS REx's mission is to study a near-Earth asteroid, grab a piece of it and return the sample to Earth. It is headquartered at the University of Arizona. OSIRIS REx stands for Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer.

“Each review is chaired by a member of the Goddard Standing Review Team," said Dante Lauretta, the project's principal investigator at the UA. "This is a board of independent advisers and assessors that was assembled by the (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center and then he pulls together experts on the particular system."

Approval of the review will allow the mission to proceed to the next phase.

“Phase C, we start building engineering hardware," Lauretta said. "So we’re building test units of all of our instruments, all of our key spacecraft components, and we are testing them in flight-like environments.”

The carbonaceous asteroid that scientists call 1999 RQ36 was chosen because it is believed to be a direct remnant of the original building blocks of terrestrial planets, and because there is a one in 1,800 chance it will collide with Earth in a century and a half.

The project is scheduled for launch in 2016, and the acquired sample is expected back on Earth in a decade.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona