OSIRIS-REX

OSIRIS-REX is no longer on orbit
OSIRIS-REX is classified as:

Space & Earth Science

NORAD ID: 41757

Int'l Code: 2016-055A

Launch date: September 8, 2016
Source: United States (US)
Launch site: AIR FORCE EASTERN TEST RANGE (AFETR)
Decay date: 2016-09-09

OSIRIS-REX, known as the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer is a $800 million mission embarked on its 7-year, round trip journey to asteroid Bennu and back. OSIRIS-REx will swing by the Earth on Sept. 22, 2017, receiving a gravity-assisted slingshot to bend the flight path to intercept the destination in August 2018 for a three-year stay. The craft measures 10 feet (3.0 m) tall and 20 feet wide (6.1 m) and weighed 4,650 pounds (2,109 kg) at launch. It is equipped with 28 thrusters of various sizes for maneuvers and 2,700 pounds (1,225 kg) of hydrazine fuel. Part of the mission aims to determine Bennu's precise trajectory, which current estimates say there is a 1 in 2,700 chance it could collide with Earth late in the 22nd century—between 2175 and 2199.