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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday September 27 2017, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the big-blue-marble dept.

OSIRIS-REx has captured an image of Earth as it flew by our planet for a gravity assist:

"The dark vertical streaks at the top of the image are caused by short exposure times (less than three milliseconds)," NASA officials wrote in an image description Tuesday (Sept. 26). "Short exposure times are required for imaging an object as bright as Earth, but are not anticipated for an object as dark as the asteroid Bennu, which the camera was designed to image."

The $800 million OSIRIS-REx mission — whose name is short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer — launched on Sept. 8, 2016. If all goes according to plan, the spacecraft will arrive at the 1,640-foot-wide (500 meters) Bennu late next year.

OSIRIS-REx will study the rock from orbit for more than 18 months and then head in to snag a sample of dirt and gravel from Bennu's surface in July 2020. This material will parachute to Earth's surface inside a special return capsule in September 2023.

101955 Bennu.

Previously: OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission - Launch Successful


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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday September 27 2017, @08:08PM (5 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday September 27 2017, @08:08PM (#574008)

    No, the probe passed by Earth to steal some of our precious gravity.

    Dirty thief.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Wednesday September 27 2017, @08:51PM (3 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Wednesday September 27 2017, @08:51PM (#574033) Journal

    Well, actually it stole some of Earth's kinetic energy. Gravity was only the device it used for that.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday September 27 2017, @10:11PM

      by isostatic (365) on Wednesday September 27 2017, @10:11PM (#574064) Journal

      Clearly we need to ensure we have the resources to chase after anything that steals our precious kinetic energy. I suggest a massive expansion of space funding.

    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday September 27 2017, @10:12PM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Wednesday September 27 2017, @10:12PM (#574065) Homepage

      Well, actually it stole some of Earth's kinetic energy.

      Or gave it some. Depends on your point of view.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday September 27 2017, @11:42PM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday September 27 2017, @11:42PM (#574096)

      I don't care if it was kinetic energy [wikipedia.org] it stole, I want my share back!

  • (Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday September 27 2017, @09:15PM

    by Snow (1601) on Wednesday September 27 2017, @09:15PM (#574043) Journal

    They should have just installed more before they sent it up.