Sample Return and Preliminary Examination Timeline for the OSIRIS-REx Mission
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample of asteroid (101955) Bennu on October 20, 2020, using the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) [1,2,3]. After sample acquisition, the TAGSAM collection head was stowed in the Sample Return Capsule (SRC; Fig. 1) for transport back to Earth. On September 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft will fly by Earth and release the SRC, which will land at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The sample will be transported to the OSIRIS-REx curation facility, located within NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), where it will be examined, cataloged, and allocated for scientific analyses. Here we describe the timeline of operations for the return, recovery, and initial characterization of the Bennu sample.