Behind the Wings ®
The Podcast – S7, Episode 63
University of Arizona Professor and OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator Dr. Dante Lauretta explains how asteroids could reveal the origins of life on Earth.
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In this episode, we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the asteroid sample collection on October 20 and explore the spacecraft’s design, the daring Touch-And-Go maneuver, challenges the team overcame, and what we’ve learned so far from the materials returned from Asteroid Bennu. Our knowledge of space is rapidly evolving, and we still have so much to learn about why these ancient space rocks may hold the secrets to life itself.
This special release features the full-length conversation with Dante from our upcoming Season 7 of Behind the Wings on PBS. To dive deeper into the OSIRIS-REx mission, watch the video premiere on November 27 on our YouTube page. This one is going to be cool!
The regular podcast will take a short mid-season break and return on November 24. In the meantime, check out our upcoming weekly mini-series: The Making of Behind the Wings PBS Season 7!
- On an Antarctic mission, Dante and colleagues determined that the only way to truly study an asteroid was to travel to one and collect rocks from its surface.
- Designing the spacecraft was no easy task and required a TAGSAM system to briefly hit the surface, fire a burst of nitrogen gas to stir up the materials, and collect space dust for further analysis.
- OSIRIS’ mission is far from over. It’s currently heading towards Asteroid Apophis to gather more samples and answer even more questions.
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