AOPP Seminar - The Nature of Sample from Asteroid Bennu Sample as Revealed by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission

OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s New Frontiers 3 asteroid sample return mission that successfully investigated the outcrop known as asteroid Bennu, collected sample, and safely delivered that sample to Earth in September of 2023. Since first opening the avionics desk of the sample return capsule, which housed the sample collector head with the pristine Bennu regolith, the sample analysis team has been hard at work analyzing the precious rocks. In my talk I will report on: (i) the findings from the asteroid operation phase of the mission as they relate to sample science, and, (ii) some key sample analysis results as they relate to the origin and evolution of asteroid Bennu, including the remote sensing data. The main emphasis of my talk will be on the importance of petrology in reconstructing our understanding of the earliest geologic activity within the first-formed rocky bodies in the Solar System.