The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to orbit, map and collect samples from near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft will be boosted into orbit from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 7.05 p.m. After arriving at Bennu in 2018, the 2,110-kg fully-fuelled spacecraft will spend over a year exploring the asteroid before approaching its surface to grab a sample. NASA, the US space agency is set to launch its first mission to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth on September 8 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After a careful survey of Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will collect between 60 to 2,000 grams of surface material with its robotic arm and return the sample to Earth.

Source: bd News24 September 08, 2016 05:48 UTC