Osiris-REX: NASA's Asteroid Harvester

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[eherrmann]

Great presentation Simon, thank you. I was fortunate enough to be part of the citizen science team that mapped Bennu to find a suitable sample acquisition site. I counted and marked every pebble, rock, boulder, and crater on over 700 images. It was slow, tedious work that took nearly 6 months, but I'm very glad that I participated. I'm really looking forward to the return of the sample and all the science we get from it.

[aidarosullivan]

It never stops amazing me how scientists come up with these elegant but precise names.

[robertgarrett]

You forgot to mention that the sample was so large that it had jammed the lid open on the return container. They finally managed to get it closed by "jiggleing" the container to clear the seals.

[silverXnoise]

The discovery that asteroids (at least some, if not most) are largely clumps of gravel makes OSIRIS one of the most exciting missions of my lifetime.

[ignitionfrn]

1:30 - Chapter 1 - Look to the skies
4:50 - Chapter 2 - Fantastic voyager
8:55 - Chapter 3 - Rock in space
11:45 - Chapter 4 - A magical mystery tour
15:05 - Chapter 5 - The long way home
- Chapter 6 -

[tomkershaw]

Really fascinating and enjoyable video Simon. Well done to you and your team

[THE-X-Force]

"Bennu" is the name for the ancient Egyptian version of the Phoenix myth.
Makes me think of the firestorm it could create on Earth, and the rebirth of life following after.

[SamlSchulze]

One of the most interesting videos I've ever seen.

[michaellee]

Thanks for pluggin the little guy. So much information to be had. Great mission!

[perkytxgirl]

You should check out Hayabusa2, Japan's mission to Ryugu and the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission.

[TheoreticalPie]

The fact that I found the idea of Americans abandoning the Imperial system in 200 years and weighing things in Shaq's, and the fact that I can see this happening in a weird timeline, funny as hell, proves spending 2 years in my house with nothing but unregulated online access maybe wasn't as good to my sense of humor then I thought. . .

[Carstuff]

As I watch this right now, the sample has made it back safely to

[Uhtred-the-bold]

My parents live on the eastern edge of the Utah test range and I’m still trying to find out if I’d be able to see this when it comes back to earth!

[BallisticDamages]

Might have to take a trip to Utah in September, if not, I'll at least look up and wave as OSIRIS continues it's long journey

[scientologyismyruin]

Excellent presentation. Thank you for your great work.

[Jim_]

I wonder if you could use the clockwork radio principle to power a probe that won’t be needed to be activated for decades, or possibly even longer.

Like a probe sent to Alpha Centauri perhaps, with Solar Radiometers on the probe to both activate the probe as it nears the Solar system its aimed towards, and recharge the clockwork mechanism like a giant self rewinding watch that never stops running.

The electronics would have to be powered like a clockwork radio, negating the need for batteries or Nuclear power, which will degrade over extremely long periods. This is the issue with the voyager probes as they age, despite the fact that the electronics and computers within the probe are functioning perfectly after nearly half a century of constant use.

The probe would have to be large and capable of making independent decisions, which may require a large amount of older hardier computer chips.

You could even go a step further, and have small landers on the larger probe that could be fired and directed towards other planets. They could be hardy probes, with a self contained non rechargeable clockwork power source of their own. Preferably a hardy probe to gather planetary data quickly, similar to the Venetian and Titan probes of the past.

The only issue would be having a secondary rechargeable clockwork mechanism to power the transmitter, which would have to be very powerful for the extremely long distances to earth. Storage of information until broadcast would be vital.

If Spacex can reduce the cost of launches further, perhaps we could have a mother ship probe that could launch smaller satellites like a Clockwork Cassinis, to examine planetary systems and their moons, as well as launch the aforementioned smaller probes

This is a bit long winded and hypothetical but its worth thinking about…

[freesk]

"Man is the measure of all things." Plato
"Shak is the measure of all things." Simon

[Shifty]

Glad you covered this! I was lucky enough to have my name placed on 2xmicrochips which reside on the return craft, and the main craft as well!
Couldn't be more excited to have my name hurtling through space, now to Apophis and beyond!

[Mavrik]

14:00 That's good then. Even if it hit Earth it would mostly break up and be vaporized in the atmosphere. And Long before that we could break it apart into its relatively small harmless components.

[ESCtdyerwestfield]

I'm glad global space agencies have at last started working on ways to deflect mass extinction events striking our planet. I'm surprised it took until 2014 to start looking into it.