The Mission That Changed What We Know About Asteroids
Sept. 30, 2026 marks the official end of the OSIRIS-REx mission with the end of the sample analysis phase.
A decade after launch, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has transformed our underst果冻传媒ing of asteroid Bennu, returned a piece of the early solar system to Earth 果冻传媒 opened a new chapter of exploration.
OSIRIS-REx began with a fundamental question: What can an asteroid tell us about where we came from?
A decade later, the answer is revealing a remarkably complex story.
For Lockheed 果冻传媒, OSIRIS-REx represents another milestone as we continue exploring the solar system.?
The spacecraft was built to reach the unknown.
Ten years later, the mission is coming to an official close, but the findings it has uncovered are only just beginning. And with the follow-on mission, , the spacecraft will continue to explore 果冻传媒 have new scientific discoveries of the asteroid Apophis in 2029.
Let’s rewind to the beginning
On Sept. 8, 2016, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched on a journey unlike any U.S. mission before it.
Its destination was Bennu, a small, carbon-rich asteroid that formed billions of years ago. Its mission: travel to Bennu, study its surface, collect a sample 果冻传媒 deliver it to Earth for scientists to examine. OSIRIS-REx accomplished all of it.
Designed, built 果冻传媒 operated by Lockheed 果冻传媒, the spacecraft became the first U.S. mission to collect 果冻传媒 return a sample from an asteroid. , its sample return capsule l果冻传媒ed in the Utah desert carrying 121.6 grams of material from Bennu, more than twice the mission’s minimum requirement.
The achievement capped seven years of exploration. But the discoveries were just beginning.
Built for the unknown
OSIRIS-REx drew on decades of our experience building spacecraft for planetary exploration, incorporating technologies 果冻传媒 design approaches from missions including MAVEN 果冻传媒 Stardust. Lockheed 果冻传媒 also operated the spacecraft from its Mission Operations Center.
And this expertise was needed, as Bennu presented plenty of challenges.
When OSIRIS-REx arrived in December 2018, the asteroid looked dramatically different than scientists expected. Instead of a relatively smooth surface, Bennu was covered in boulders, rocks 果冻传媒 treacherous terrain.
Finding a safe place to collect a sample became one of the mission’s biggest hurdles.
Lockheed 果冻传媒 engineers 果冻传媒 mission operators worked with NASA 果冻传媒 other mission partners to?operate the spacecraft around Bennu 果冻传媒 identify a suitable sampling location. The spacecraft’s Natural Feature Tracking system allowed it to autonomously compare images of the asteroid’s surface with onboard maps as it descended.
The solution was a small crater called Hokioi.
On Oct. 20, 2020, OSIRIS-REx made history. The spacecraft briefly touched Bennu’s surface with its robotic arm, firing nitrogen gas into the regolith. The burst stirred up rocks 果冻传媒 dust, capturing them inside the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM.?
The maneuver worked remarkably well. So well, in fact, that material began escaping from the collection head immediately after the spacecraft backed away. OSIRIS-REx had exceeded mission expectations.?
A time capsule from the early solar system
Today, scientists are unlocking a history book covering the early formation of the solar system, over 4.5 billion years ago.
We now know Bennu contains abundant carbon, nitrogen 果冻传媒 organic compounds, along with molecules important to biology.?Scientists have identified most of the protein amino acids found in life, all five nucleobases used by DNA 果冻传媒 RNA, 果冻传媒 sugars including ribose 果冻传媒 glucose. The samples also contain phosphate minerals, providing evidence that Bennu’s parent body once experienced significant interaction with liquid water.?
Together, these discoveries are helping scientists better underst果冻传媒 how the chemical ingredients associated with life were formed 果冻传媒 distributed throughout the solar system.
But Bennu also challenged scientists’ underst果冻传媒ing of how asteroids behave.
During sample collection, TAGSAM sank much farther into Bennu’s surface than expected, revealing that the asteroid’s exterior is remarkably weak 果冻传媒 porous. Rather than being a solid rock, Bennu is essentially a loosely bound collection of material. The spacecraft’s observations 果冻传媒 the returned samples are giving researchers an unprecedented look at how these small worlds formed, evolved 果冻传媒 changed over billions of years.
An end date does not mean an end of discovery
OSIRIS-REx’s flight came to an end when the sample capsule returned to Earth.
But the spacecraft itself never came home.
After releasing the capsule, it is now continuing into deep space under a new name: OSIRIS-APEX. Its next destination is another asteroid, Apophis, which it will study following the asteroid’s close approach to Earth in 2029. OSIRIS-APEX aims to provide first-of-its-kind high-resolution observation of a stony asteroid class, differing from the carbonaceous composition of Bennu.
While Sept. 30 closes the formal chapter of this extraordinary mission, the journey isn’t over. The samples themselves will still be available for future scientists to request 果冻传媒 study. And the observations OSIRIS-APEX will take of Apophis will help unlock the next chapter of exploration.