NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer or OSIRIS-REx is an unmanned deep-space craft that is designed to capture samples from asteroids before bringing them back to Earth for scientists to study.
The OSIRIS-REx is designed to specifically rendezvous with the near-Earth asteroid Bennu in 2018. Bennu is one of the most likely asteroids to hit Earth in the next few centuries, so there's good reason to want to take a look at it and understand what it's made of.
Given that mankind has some serious and seriously ambitious plans to colonize other parts of the solar system, it is of supreme importance that we begin to better understand the outer space environment. Understanding asteroids is absolutely key to this, and the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will play a key role here.
Asteroid-Sampling Spacecraft
The OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Will Bring Asteroid Samples to Earth
Trend Themes
1. Asteroid Sampling - The trend of exploring and collecting samples from asteroids for scientific study and understanding the outer space environment.
2. Deep Space Exploration - The trend of developing unmanned spacecrafts to explore and gather data from distant celestial bodies such as asteroids.
3. Space Colonization - The trend of conducting research and gathering information about asteroids to support future plans for colonizing other parts of the solar system.
Industry Implications
1. Space Exploration - The space exploration industry can leverage the technology and data gathered from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to propel further advancements in deep space exploration and understanding.
2. Aerospace Technology - The aerospace technology industry can benefit from the innovation opportunities presented by the development of unmanned spacecrafts for sample collection and scientific research on asteroids.
3. Scientific Research - The scientific research industry can utilize the samples collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to gain insights into the composition and characteristics of asteroids, leading to breakthroughs in space exploration and understanding.