ARIZONA, USA — Editor's note: The above video is from an earlier broadcast during the original asteroid sample collection.
The University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx space mission may have one more thing to do before it begins its long flight back home to earth.
A recent press release from the mission's team said they are planning to have the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft make a previously unscheduled full rotation around the asteroid Bennu to see how the spacecraft may have altered its surface during the sample collection.
"Bennu's surface was considerably disturbed after the Touch-and-Go, or TAG, sample collection event," the press release said. "The spacecraft's thrusters also disturbed a substantial amount of surface material during the back-away burn."
The sample collection, which took place last October, marked a historic moment in space engineering as Bennu was the smallest object a spacecraft has ever been in orbit of. Now, researchers want to know how the process of the sample collection may have affected the asteroid.
"The May departure date allows the spacecraft to consume the least amount of fuel and also provides the OSIRIS-REx team with the opportunity to plan a final spacecraft flyby of Bennu," the team said.
The spacecraft will take high-resolution images of the landing site during the flyby to compare them to the images the team took back in 2019 to find any alterations that may have happened.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to leave the asteroid on May 10, 2020 before arriving back on Earth on Sept. 24, 2023. The asteroid sample will be distributed to laboratories worldwide to give scientists more information of the formation of the solar system and Earth itself.
