June Monthly Meeting: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission: Early Results from Asteroid Sample Analysis

Location: Zoom + In-Person at First Evangelical Lutheran Church (803 3rd Ave, Longmont, CO 80501)

Summary

The primary objective of NASA’s Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is to explore and return a pristine sample from the asteroid Bennu to help scientists understand the origin and evolution of our solar system and, ultimately, how life began. After arriving at Bennu in 2018, the spacecraft gathered data to understand the asteroid and select a sampling site. A sample was collected successfully in October 2020 and OSIRIS-REx began its return to Earth in May 2021. In September of 2023, the sample was successfully returned to Earth -- the mission science team has begun analysis of this incredible sample and this presentation will describe early results.

Bio

Dr. Vicky Hamilton is an Institute Scientist at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. She received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University and her A.B. from Occidental College. She is a geologist specializing in laboratory spectroscopy of minerals, meteorites, and returned samples, and infrared remote sensing of planetary surfaces to determine composition and physical properties. She has been a science team Co-Investigator and Deputy Instrument Scientist/Principal Investigator on five NASA planetary science missions to Mars and asteroids. She is also the Chair of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), a research community-based, interdisciplinary forum providing the science input needed to plan and prioritize NASA’s Mars exploration activities.