By Empower Young Journalist Alka Singh
USA, May 13: NASA’s Origins Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is returning back to Earth after being in space for nearly five years. The spacecraft started its journey on May 10, 2021. The aim of its mission was to collect rocks and dust samples from the near-Earth
asteroid, Bennu. It collected more than two ounces (sixty grams) of samples.
The spacecraft will return to Earth around September 24 in the year 2023 after orbiting the sun twice. The capsule containing the asteroid rock samples will separate from the rest of the spacecraft and enter Earth’s atmosphere.
It will then parachute to the Utah Test and Training Range in Utah’s West Desert in the USA. Scientists will be waiting to retrieve it and test the sample to know about the origins of the solar system.
