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Members of NASA's UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission completed one last dress rehersal before the spacecraft delivers a sample from asteroid Bennu to the Utah desert on Sept. 24.
When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivers a sample from asteroid Bennu to Earth on Sept. 24, it will launch decades of scientific investigation. Mission principal investigator Dante Lauretta is most excited to shed light on the origins of life on Earth.
Everything must go smoothly when the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft releases its capsule full of pristine asteroid material over the Utah desert in September. Members of the mission team gathered at Lockheed Martin in Colorado to rehearse recovering the capsule and its precious cargo.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is cruising back to Earth with the sample it collected from asteroid Bennu's rocky surface in 2020. When the sample capsule parachutes down into the Utah desert on Sept. 24, the UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission will become the first U.S. mission to return an asteroid sample to Earth.
University of Arizona space sciences activities generate more than $560 million every year for the local economy, according to an economic impact report delivered by Rounds Consulting Group.
NASA awarded nearly $3 million to the University of Arizona Kuiper Materials Imaging and Characterization Facility to support OSIRIS-REx sample science and much more.
From exploring the deepest corners of the universe to reimagining urban heat resilience, University of Arizona expertise in several disciplines generated international headlines in 2022.