NASA to Host Media Briefing on Mission to Return Asteroid Sample to Earth

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Aug 20, 2018, 15:03 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 24, to provide an update on upcoming activities related to the agency's first mission to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft, which launched on Sept. 8, 2016, started asteroid science operations last week, began imaging asteroid Bennu for the first time, and is now preparing to conduct the necessary approach maneuvers to rendezvous with Bennu on Dec. 3.

The mission represents a valuable opportunity 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 briefing participants are:

Lori Glaze, acting director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters
Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson
Michael Moreau, OSIRIS-REx flight dynamics system manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Sandy Freund, OSIRIS-REx mission support area manager at Lockheed Martin Space

Media who would like to ask questions by phone must send an email with their name and affiliation to Lonnie Shekhtman at [email protected] by noon Aug. 24. Questions also can be submitted during the teleconference via Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

For more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit:

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

SOURCE NASA