Bennu
Watch OSIRIS-REx's Complex Orbital Path Around Bennu in This Cool Animation
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft conducted a two-year reconnaissance and sample collection at the asteroid Bennu, providing crucial data about the 500-meter-wide…
OSIRIS-REx Would Have Sunk Deep into Asteroid Bennu if it Tried to Land
A pair of studies published in Science and Science Advances have helped identify that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource…
Asteroid Ryugu Might Actually Be a Dead Comet
In 2014, the Japanese Space Agency JAXA launched the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to visit asteroid Ryugu. It arrived at the…
OSIRIS-Rex got to Know Bennu Really Well. Apparently, There’s now a 1-in-1,750 Chance That it’ll hit Earth by 2300
Asteroid Bennu is one of the two most hazardous known asteroids in our Solar System. Luckily, the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral…
OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It’s Almost Time to Come Home
After more than two years in orbit around asteroid Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to come home. It's bringing…
OSIRIS-REx is Heading for Home in May
The OSIRIS-REx team decided to delay the spacecraft’s departure from asteroid Bennu for two months. The departure window opens in…
Asteroid Bennu has little pieces of Vesta on it
The asteroid belt is a chaotic place. Things smash into each other, get thrown into completely different orbital planes, and…
Bennu is Constantly Getting Sandblasted by Tiny Meteoroids
As soon as the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid Bennu in December 2018, there was a big surprise. Scientists expected…
Asteroid Bennu is Getting Some Official Names for its Surface Features
Late last summer, NASA and the International Astronomical Union’s Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (a.k.a WGPSN) approved the naming…
Even Though it Was Observing an Asteroid, OSIRIS-REx Accidentally Spotted a Black Hole
While the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was orbiting asteroid Bennu, one of the instruments on board happened to catch a glimpse of…