[meteorite-list] NASA Invites Public to Send Names on an Asteroid Mission and Beyond (OSIRIS-REx)

[Ron Baalke]

January 15, 2014

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Nancy Neal Jones
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039
nancy.n.jones at nasa.gov
     
RELEASE 14-017
     
NASA Invites Public to Send Names on an Asteroid Mission and Beyond

NASA is inviting people around the world to submit their names to be etched  
on a microchip aboard a spacecraft headed to the asteroid Bennu in 2016.

The "Messages to Bennu!" microchip will travel to the asteroid aboard the  
agency's Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security  
Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. The robotic mission will spend  
more than two years at the 1,760-foot (500-meter)-wide asteroid. The  
spacecraft will collect a sample of Bennu's surface and return it to Earth in  
a sample return capsule.

"We're thrilled to be able to share the OSIRIS-REx adventure with people  
across the Earth, to Bennu and back," said Dante Lauretta, principal  
investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission from the University of Arizona in  
Tucson. "It's a great opportunity for people to get engaged with the mission  
early and join us as we prepare for launch."

Those wishing to participate in "Messages to Bennu!" should submit their name  
online no later than Sept. 30 at:

http://planetary.org/bennu 

After a person submits their name, they will be able to download and print a  
certificate documenting their participation in the OSIRIS-REx mission.

"You'll be part of humankind's exploration of the solar system --How cool is  
that?" said Bill Nye, chief executive officer of The Planetary Society, the  
organization collecting and processing the entries.

Participants who "follow" or "like" the mission on Facebook will receive  
updates on the location of their name in space from launch time until the  
asteroid samples return to Earth in 2023. Facebook fans also will be kept  
apprised of mission progress and late-breaking news through regular status  
updates.

The OSIRIS-REx mission goal is to address basic questions about the  
composition of the very early solar system, the source of organic materials  
and water that made life possible on Earth, and to better predict the orbits  
of asteroids that represent collision threats to the Earth. It will collect a  
minimum of 2 ounces (60 grams) of surface material.
Once the sample return capsule deploys, the spacecraft will be placed into a  
long-term solar orbit around the sun, along with the microchip and every name  
on it.

"It is exciting to consider the possibility that some of the people who  
register to send their names to Bennu could one day be a part of the team  
that analyzes the samples from the asteroid 10 years from now," said Jason  
Dworkin, mission project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,  
Greenbelt, Md.

This mission will assist the agency in its efforts to identify the population  
of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, as well as those suitable for  
asteroid exploration missions. The asteroid initiative brings together the  
best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration efforts to achieve  
President Obama's goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will provide overall  
mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance for  
OSIRIS-REx. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver will build the  
spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program.  
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages New  
Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex 

and

http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu 

-end-