Tag Archives: Asteroid Bennu

With the success of the OISRIS-Rex mission to asteroid Bennu, and with scientists studying the samples that were returned, the spacecraft has a new mission as OSIRIS-APEX, and Canada has a role to play.

A haul of precious asteroid material, including some bound for Canada, was unveiled at NASA’s Johnson Space Center via livestream today (Oct. 11).

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) hosted a briefing with reporters yesterday going over the NASA-led OSIRIS-REx mission which is retuning samples on September 24. Canada will receive a sample where it will be housed in a curation facility which will be the first of its kind in the country This page is for subscribers only. Already a subscriber? Log in. Fact-driven space news, columns, business, …

Asteroid mining has received a lot of attention, both as a possible way of addressing resource shortages and as a way of reducing the environmental impact of mining on Earth. While it is assumed that asteroid mining is still a far-off dream, the recent Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Science Symposium may suggest otherwise. This page is for subscribers only. Already a subscriber? Log in. Fact-driven …

Canada was all over the solar system – and even peering beyond its borders – in 2020. Canadian technology helped a spacecraft touch down on a comet, and was named to hunt for exoplanets on a future NASA telescope. Canadian researchers were also busy with space science studies, and companies continued to win contracts amid a tough economic environment due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. …

It was scripted to happen this way, but when it did what it was supposed to do, ground controllers and scientists elation was clearly evident. What had just happened? A spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, had just “touched” down, albeit it for seconds, on asteroid Bennu, grabbed a bunch of “dust and pebbles,” and taken off again with its prize. It lasted mere seconds, yet took years to …

Just days ahead of a spacecraft landing on Bennu, a newly released model of the asteroid shows a complex history – including the fact that its surface regolith might have expanded and contracted at least once.

The NASA led OSIRIS-REx mission is exceeding scientists expectations and now they have to make the difficult decision of where to land the spacecraft from four candidate sites on asteroid Bennu to collect samples.

Before the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in orbit around asteroid Bennu can take a sample from the surface it needs to be mapped. That’s where Canada’s OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) comes in.

Canada is participating in the NASA led OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu. In early December the spacecraft went into orbit around the asteroid. Why are we participating in this mission?