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    Near-Earth asteroid Bennu: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will have a map for that

    May 27, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The mapping of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu is one of the science goals of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, and an integral part of spacecraft operations. The spacecraft will spend a year surveying Bennu before collecting a sample that will be returned to Earth for analysis. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

    The mapping of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu is one of the science goals of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, and an integral part of spacecraft operations. The spacecraft will spend a year surveying Bennu before collecting a sample that will be returned to Earth for analysis. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

    On Sept. 8, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to launch for terra incognita: the unknown surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Like expeditions of old, OSIRIS-REx’s mission includes mapping the exotic terrain it explores. Bennu is part of the debris left over from the formation of the solar system and is pristine enough to hold clues to that very early history...

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