NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft heads for Earth with Asteroid Sample

After nearly five years in space, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

• It was launched in 2016 and it arrived at Bennu in 2018. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is due to reach Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.
• It will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, and improve understanding of asteroids.

Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths (ASTHROS)

• It is NASA’s new mission to send a telescope, on a football stadium-sized balloon, ....