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

[NASA News Releases <hqnews@xxxxxxxx>]

	October 29, 2020  MEDIA ADVISORY M20-120 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 agency’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft and the mission’s 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 Bennu’s surface and collected in the spacecraft’s 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 NASA’s Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx mission operations manager, Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colorado For dial-in information, media must send their name, affiliation, and phone number to Alana Johnson at: alana.r.johnson@xxxxxxxx no later than 3:30 p.m. today. Studying Bennu with OSIRIS-REx allows researchers to learn more about the origins of our solar system, the sources of water and organic molecules on Earth, and the hazards and resources in near-Earth space.  For more information on OSIRIS-REx, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex and https://www.asteroidmission.org -end-
	Press Contacts Grey Hautaluoma / Alana Johnson Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668 / 202-358-1501 grey.hautaluoma-1@xxxxxxxx / alana.r.johnson@xxxxxxxx Nancy Neal Jones Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-0039 nancy.n.jones@xxxxxxxx Erin Morton University of Arizona, Tucson 520-269-2493 morton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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