Sample Return
Tiny Fragments of a 4-Billion Year Old Asteroid Reveal Its History
In June 2018, Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission reached asteroid 162173 Ryugu. It studied the asteroid for about 15 months, deploying…
Asteroid Samples Were Once Part of a Wetter World
Nine months have passed since NASA's OSIRIS-REx returned its samples of asteroid Bennu to Earth. The samples are some of…
NASA is Considering Other Ways of Getting its Mars Samples Home
In 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover landed in the Jezero Crater on Mars. For the next three years, this astrobiology mission…
OSIRIS-REx’s Final Haul: 121.6 Grams from Asteroid Bennu
After several months of meticulous, careful work, NASA has the final total for their haul of asteroidal material from the…
Finally, Let’s Look at the Asteroid Treasure Returned to Earth by OSIRIS-REx
NASA's OSIRIS-REx delivered its precious cargo to Earth on September 24th, 2023. The sample from asteroid Bennu is contained inside…
OSIRIS-REx Returned Carbon and Water from Asteroid Bennu
Carbon and water are so common on Earth that they're barely worth mentioning. But not if you're a scientist. They…
Watch OSIRIS-REx Release its Sample Capsule
Most of the spacecraft we send out into the Solar System are never meant to return. Time, space, and entropy…
We Can Only Bring 30 Samples of Mars Back to Earth. How Do We Decide?
The Mars Sample Return Mission is one of the most ambitious missions ever conceived. Though the samples won't be returned…
Fly Around Jezero Crater on Mars in This New Video
There’s a reason Jezero Crater was chosen as the landing site for the Perseverance Rover: it is considered one of…
Perseverance is Building Up a Big Collection of Mars Samples
NASA's Perseverance Rover has reached another milestone. It's finished caching its samples for a potential return to Earth. The sample…