OSIRIS-REx Mission Summary

 OSIRIS-REx was a NASA spacecraft mission designed to study the asteroid Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid. The name "OSIRIS-REx" stands for "Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer." The mission's primary objectives were to:

Map the surface of the asteroid to find a suitable sampling site.

Retrieve a sample of regolith (loose surface material) from Bennu's surface.

Return the sample to Earth for further analysis.

The spacecraft was launched on September 8, 2016, and reached Bennu in December 2018. After conducting extensive surveys and analyzing the asteroid's surface, OSIRIS-REx successfully touched down on Bennu's surface on October 20, 2020, to collect a sample. The sample collection mechanism used nitrogen gas to blow loose regolith into the sample collection chamber.

The collected sample was intended to be returned to Earth. However, it was planned that the spacecraft would depart from Bennu in 2021 and perform a series of maneuvers to return to Earth with the sample, with a projected arrival date back on Earth in September 2023.