NASA is hosting a media teleconference at 3 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 24, to provide an update on the agencys first attempt to contact the surface of asteroid Bennu and collect a sample next month. Teleconference audio and visuals will stream live on NASAs website.
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will travel to the asteroids surface during its first sample collection attempt Oct. 20. Its sampling mechanism will touch Bennus surface for several seconds, fire a charge of pressurized nitrogen to disturb the surface, and collect a sample before the spacecraft backs away.
Participating in this mission update are:
- Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASAs Science Mission Directorate
- Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division
- Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson
- Mike Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
- Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx mission operations manager at Lockheed Martin Space
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