Countdown to Bennu

NASA Goddard Media Studios
Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Scientists Richard Binzel, Rebecca Masterson, and Branden Allen discuss how the REXIS instrument aboard OSIRIS-REx works.

Getting excited? NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission launches in September 2016 and plans to return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023. This video profiles a student-built instrument aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft called REXIS - the Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer. The purpose of REXIS is to collect and image fluorescent X-rays emitted by the asteroid, which will give scientists information regarding atomic elements that comprise it.

OSIRIS-REx Tech
Surveying an Asteroid with X-rays: Video credit: NASA Goddard

 

Related

Boldly Going to Bennu EAPS News

Student-Built Instrument Headed to Asteroid and Back MIT News

NASA | Asteroid Bennu's Journey

Story Image: Montage courtesy: R. Binzel

Links

Richard Binzel

NASA OSIRIS REx Mission website

NASA REXIS website SSL/MIT