OSIRIS REx

NASA's OSIRIS-REx has begun to pay dividends as the space agency releases the first results of the sample return mission from the asteroid Bennu, showing the presence of a high carbon content and water – the primary building blocks of life.

After a two-and-a-half-year astral trek and seven years since lift off, asteroid samples from NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer OS(IRIS-REx) have been brought down to Earth.

In a truly remarkable feat of engineering, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has scooped a sample of soil from the surface of asteroid Bennu, as it hurtles through space some 205 million miles from Earth.

With OSIRIS-REx in close orbit around Bennu, we’ve already seen some pretty amazing up-close shots of the asteroid. And now, NASA has released a full global map of this rocky little world in unprecedented resolution.

If you plan to visit asteroid Bennu, you'll need a new map. The International Astronomical Union and NASA have decided that features of the asteroid currently being orbited by the space agency's unmanned OSIRIS-REx deep-space probe will be named after "birds and bird-like creatures in mythology."

As part of preparations for a highly anticipated asteroid encounter, NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe has successfully carried out an important dress rehearsal starring the robotic arm that will be used to grab samples of dust and rock from the surface.​

Lockheed Martin announced that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has passed a comprehensive technical review, giving the green light for Lockheed to begin building the spacecraft in anticipation of a launch in 2016.

NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission took a step closer to reality on Wednesday, as the OSIRIS-REx project was cleared for development and testing.