NASA Invites Media to Briefing on OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Stowage

stow_for-release-2.png

The left image shows the OSIRIS-REx collector head hovering over the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) after the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism arm moved it into the proper position for capture. The right image shows the collector head secured onto the capture ring in the SRC. Both images were captured by the StowCam camera.

Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin

NASA will host a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT today, Thursday, Oct. 29, to provide an update on the status of the agencys Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft and the missions work to safely stow the sample it collected from asteroid Bennu.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a dramatic six-second touch of Bennu on Oct. 20, and video released the next day indicated a significant amount of particles were agitated on Bennus surface and collected in the spacecrafts Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism collector head. The team has been working since to stow the primordial cargo for return to Earth next year.

During the teleconference, OSIRIS-REx team members will discuss how the stowage process has gone so far, what else they have learned about the sample, and what the next steps are for the mission to return the sample to Earth.

The teleconference audio and visuals will stream live at:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

Briefing participants include:

• Lori Glaze, director of NASAs Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington
• Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson
• Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
• Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx mission operations manager, Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colorado