OSIRIS-REx

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will bring back a 4.5-billion-year-old sample from an asteroid, called Bennu, this September.

Mission

OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security -Regolith Explorer) is NASA's first asteroid sample return mission.

Insights

The Bennu asteroid sample could give crucial insights into the formation of planets and how life on Earth came into existence.

Sample return

On September 24, OSIRIS-REx's sample return capsule will make a parachute-guided landing at the Utah Test and Training Range.

Studies

The Bennu sample will be studied at a specialized facility called Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division at NASA's Johnson Space Center.