OSIRIS-REx
OSIRIS-REx was a NASA mission that returned about 122 grams of material from asteroid Bennu in 2023.
OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer. It was launched by NASA in September 2016 and reached the near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu in December 2018.
Bennu turned out to be covered in boulders, and particles were seen being thrown off its surface. On 20 October 2020, the spacecraft touched down for a few seconds, fired a burst of nitrogen gas and caught the stirred-up material. Its sampling head sank much deeper than expected into the loose surface, showing that Bennu's surface behaves almost like a fluid. The capsule landed in Utah on 24 September 2023 with about 121.6 grams, the largest asteroid sample yet returned.
The samples are rich in carbon, water-bearing clays and phosphates, and contain amino acids and all five nucleobases used in DNA and RNA. Renamed OSIRIS-APEX, the spacecraft is heading for asteroid Apophis, which will pass close to Earth in 2029.
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