NASA’s OSIRIS REx Mission Passes Critical Milestone - The Story So Far

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NASA also has made tremendous progress in the cataloging and characterization of near Earth objects over the past five years. The president’s NASA budget included, and Congress authorized, $20.4 million for an expanded NASA Near-Earth Object (NEO) Observations Program, increasing the resources for this critical program from the $4 million per year it had received since the 1990s. The program was again expanded in fiscal year 2014, with a budget of $40.5 million. NASA is asking Congress for $50 million for this important work in the 2016 budget. 

OSIRIS-REx is on the web @:

http://www.asteroidmission.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OSIRISREx
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OSIRISREx

Music: Feeling Positive by Matthias Harris

Thanks to the 321Science team: Anna Spitz, Symeon Platts, Melissa Dykhuis, James Keane, Heather Roper, Zoe Bentley, Rose Patchell, Sarah Spitz, Ross Dubois, and OSIRIS-REx Scientists and Educators.

OSIRIS-REx Presents 321Science posts entertaining videos about asteroid science and mission information. OSIRIS-REx is a NASA New Frontiers Mission which will launch to asteroid Bennu in 2016 and return a sample of the asteroid to Earth in 2023.

Also Narrated By Hannah Tanquary.

Check out the new OSIRIS-REx mission mural that is now proudly displayed on the side of our building! It was painted by a group of students in a mural painting class at the University of Arizona under the direction of Professor Alfred Quiroz. The mural shows the path of the mission from launch to sample return and even features Osiris, the Egyptian god who inspired the mission name! 

Read more about our mission’s name here: http://dslauretta.com/2015/01/22/osiris-rex-whats-in-a-name/

NASA has identified more than 12,000 NEOs to date, including 96 percent of near-Earth asteroids larger than 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) in size. NASA has not detected any objects of this size that pose an impact hazard to Earth in the next 100 years. Smaller asteroids do pass near Earth, however, and some could pose an impact threat. In 2011, 893 near-Earth asteroids were found. In 2014, that number was increased to 1,472.
In addition to NASA’s ongoing work detecting and cataloging asteroids, the agency has engaged the public in the hunt for these space rocks through the agency’s Asteroid Grand Challenge activities, including prize competitions. During the recent South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, the agency announced the release of a software application based on an algorithm created by a NASA challenge that has the potential to increase the number of new asteroid discoveries by amateur astronomers.
For more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit:

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

and

http://asteroidmission.org