NASA preparing for OSIRIS-REx sample recovery

While OSIRIS-REx is still traveling through space with a much-anticipated arrival date of September 24^th, NASA is preparing for its return and hosting the first asteroid sample recovery rehearsal to media June 27^th and June 28^th. This will be held at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, and will perform a full practice run on the sample capsule recovery as well as have interview opportunities with many of the mission experts.

Astronomers and space-enthusiasts are anxiously eager to learn about new findings and what can be found from this sample. Initially, only 25% of the sample will be researched by 200 scientists around the world. The remaining 75% of the sample then is being preserved for further proposals when updated technology and novel ideas come to the forefront of scientific research. September won’t mark the end of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, however. After releasing the sample to Earth, a new target and mission is aimed to study how Earth effects and changes a Near-Earth asteroid. The asteroid being studied, Apophis, is deemed to flyby only 20,000 miles from Earth in 2029.

Red Canyon is extremely proud to support the flight software team on the OSIRIS-REx mission! Check out the links below to learn more.

NASA Invites Media to View Asteroid Sample Rehearsal