WASHINGTON, March 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — NASA is hosting a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 19, to announce new science from the agency’s first mission to return to Earth an asteroid sample that may contain unaltered material from the very beginning of our solar system.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft launched Sept. 8, 2016, and began orbiting the asteroid Bennu on Dec. 31, 2018. Since its arrival at Bennu, the probe has been investigating the asteroid and searching for an ideal site for sample collection.

Bennu is only slightly wider than the height of the Empire State Building and is the smallest body ever orbited by spacecraft. Studying Bennu with OSIRIS-REx will allow 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. 

The teleconference participants are:

• Lori Glaze, acting director, NASA’s Planetary Science Division, Washington
• Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson
• Coralie Adam, OSIRIS-REx flight navigator, KinetX, Inc. Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics, Simi Valley, Calif.
• Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

For dial-in information, media must send their name, affiliation and phone number to Lonnie Shekhtman at [email protected] by 10 a.m. March 19. 

Teleconference audio and visuals will stream live at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

For more information about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, visit:

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

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SOURCE NASA