OSIRIS-REx: First Sights of Asteroid Bennu

OSIRIS-REx: First Sights of Asteroid Bennu

Dr. Amy Simon, the OVIRS deputy instrument scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, talks about seeing asteroid Bennu for the first time. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft launched Sept. 8, 2016, and began orbiting asteroid Bennu on Dec. 31, 2018. Its primary science objective is to study Bennu and collect a sample for return to Earth in 2023. Bennu is a carbon-rich asteroid that records the earliest history of our solar system, and which may contain the raw ingredients of life. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13207