OSIRIS-REx – Page 2 – Astronomy Now

One of NASA’s cleanest spacecraft ever is ready to fly

24 August 2016 Stephen Clark

Five years after winning $1 billion from NASA to mount the first U.S. asteroid sample return mission, scientists and engineers will get their last look at the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft this week as it is closed up inside the nose cone of an Atlas 5 rocket for launch in September.

Watch the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission briefing

21 August 2016 Astronomy Now

Watch as NASA holds a news conference at its Washington, D.C. headquarters to provide a preview of its OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu and back. The mission is scheduled to launch on 8 September, reach the asteroid in 2018, capture a sample of the celestial body in 2020 and bring the specimen back to Earth in a special landing capsule in 2023.

NASA spacecraft nears historic arrival at dwarf planet Ceres

2 March 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to entering orbit around Ceres on Friday, March 6th — the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet.

Asteroid that flew close by Earth 26th January has a moon

27 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Radar observations made with NASA’s 70-metre-wide Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California yesterday show that close-approach asteroid 2004 BL86 has a small moon.