web_around_bennu-orbits_bennu_stars.15100_print.jpg Still depicting the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s trajectory around asteroid Bennu from the initial arrival in Dec 2018 through the final departure in April 2021. The trajectory is presented in a Sun Bennu North reference frame. Credits: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 11, to discuss an important finding from NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft.

OSIRIS-REx spent over two years near the asteroid Bennu, which is a third of a mile (500 meters) wide. During that time, the spacecraft gathered information about Bennu’s size, shape, mass, and composition while monitoring its spin and orbital trajectory. Before leaving the near-Earth object May 10, 2021, the spacecraft scooped up a sample of rock and dust from the asteroid’s surface. OSIRIS-REx will return the sample to Earth Sept. 24, 2023, for further scientific study. 

Audio of the teleconference will stream live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

Participants in the briefing will be:

• Dante Lauretta, study co-author and OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson
• Davide Farnocchia, study lead author and scientist with the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California
• Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
• Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington

To participate in the teleconference, media must contact Rani Gran at: rani.c.gran@nasa.gov by noon Wednesday, Aug. 11, for dial-in information.

For more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission to Bennu, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

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Press Contacts

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson/ Josh Handal
Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501 / 202-358-2307
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov / Joshua.a.handal@nasa.gov

Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

Rani Gran
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-332-6975
rani.c.gran@nasa.gov

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