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NASA to make history, attempt to land on asteroid with OSIRIS-REx mission

Posted at 1:40 PM, Oct 20, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-20 16:42:26-04

NASA could make history on Tuesday as their spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, will attempt to land on an ancient asteroid 200 million miles away from Earth.

OSIRIS-REx launched in 2016. It arrived at the asteroid, named Bennu, in 2018 and it’s been mapping out the surface working to pick the best location to land ever since.

The mission’s operations are headquartered at the University of Arizona.

The mission will begin at 2:50 p.m. Arizona time on Tuesday. At 3:12 p.m., OSIRIS-REx will finally touch down on Bennu and collect a sample before heading back to Earth.

Dr. Lori Glaze with NASA tells ABC15 the sample will allow researchers to study the ancient secrets of our solar system. She says Bennu also has a 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth in about 150 years or so, so this mission can help researchers work to prevent that.

“Helping us refine and reduce the uncertainties on Bennu’s orbit so we can better predict more precisely not only when it might intercept with Earth, but what the probability of that intersection is,” Dr. Glaze said. “So the mission's been critically important for refining Bennu’s orbit so we can help protect ourselves in the future.”

Watch a live stream of the event in the player below.