Osiris-REX: NASA's Asteroid Harvester 

Great presentation Simon, thank you. I was fortunate enough to be part of the citizen science team that mapped Bennu to find a suitable sample acquisition site. I counted and marked every pebble, rock, boulder, and crater on over 700 images. It was slow, tedious work that took nearly 6 months, but I'm very glad that I participated. I'm really looking forward to the return of the sample and all the science we get from it.

The discovery that asteroids (at least some, if not most) are largely clumps of gravel makes OSIRIS one of the most exciting missions of my lifetime.

You forgot to mention that the sample was so large that it had jammed the lid open on the return container. They finally managed to get it closed by "jiggleing" the container to clear the seals.

It never stops amazing me how scientists come up with these elegant but precise names.

1:30 - Chapter 1 - Look to the skies 4:50 - Chapter 2 - Fantastic voyager 8:55 - Chapter 3 - Rock in space 11:45 - Chapter 4 - A magical mystery tour 15:05 - Chapter 5 - The long way home - Chapter 6 -

Really fascinating and enjoyable video Simon. Well done to you and your team

"Bennu" is the name for the ancient Egyptian version of the Phoenix myth. Makes me think of the firestorm it could create on Earth, and the rebirth of life following after.

Thanks for pluggin the little guy. So much information to be had. Great mission!

You should check out Hayabusa2, Japan's mission to Ryugu and the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission.

The Shaq system... Brilliant!

My parents live on the eastern edge of the Utah test range and I’m still trying to find out if I’d be able to see this when it comes back to earth!

Best Project So Far

Doesn't the Hayabusa deserve it's own Megaprojects video?

Might have to take a trip to Utah in September, if not, I'll at least look up and wave as OSIRIS continues it's long journey

I vote that we keep the Shaq system lol

I wonder what percentage of NASA's budget is designated for coming up with the acronyms for their probes and programs?

"Man is the measure of all things." Plato "Shak is the measure of all things." Simon

One of the most interesting videos I've ever seen.

Well done on this I really enjoyed the content!

Excellent presentation. Thank you for your great work.

Fantastic video! Cheers, Simon.

Great presentation Simon!

Great video Simon

I like the unit of measurement Shaq. It's about as meaningful as imperial units like feet :)

I wonder if Simon can pick up on the "size of Connecticut" analogies.

Excellent sir! I never knew about this

OSIRIS-REX has been worth the cost already. i'll have a tight feeling in the pit of my stomach until that parachute opens. After the length of this journey, i bet the engineers do to! Breathe deeply, it's going to be fine. Repeat !:-)

Hello and Good Morning Simon

An excellent episode!

Does the nature of the asteroid being a pile of rocks beraly held together make it less dangerous upon entry on earth's atmosphere? Would all these rocks just explode if they get into our atmosphere?

Fascinating video! 😊

Awesome.

Glad you covered this! I was lucky enough to have my name placed on 2xmicrochips which reside on the return craft, and the main craft as well! Couldn't be more excited to have my name hurtling through space, now to Apophis and beyond!

Wouldn’t it be ironic if the Osiris-Res mission was the cause of the slight change in orbit that causes a collision with Earth.

Very interesting!

You should do a video on MPD thruster engines, over double the exhaust velocity of an ion drive but capable of proper thrust like unlike other electric propulsion. The ISP for them must just be crazy like Vasimir levels. Or one on the nuclear salt water rocket, capable of interstellar level ISP with thrust far beyond any chemical engine. I mean a constant nuclear explosion inside a rocket engine? YES! lets do that!

I'm glad global space agencies have at last started working on ways to deflect mass extinction events striking our planet. I'm surprised it took until 2014 to start looking into it.

Is there a NASA think tank somewhere, the sole purpose of which is to make up catchy names for these things?

As I watch this right now, the sample has made it back safely to earth!!!!!!!!!

2:08 “asteroids were able to lug back” lol 😂

Oh those acronyms!

Flew over from Ireland for the launch. Memorable experience.

14:00 That's good then. Even if it hit Earth it would mostly break up and be vaporized in the atmosphere. And Long before that we could break it apart into its relatively small harmless components.

I wonder if you could use the clockwork radio principle to power a probe that won’t be needed to be activated for decades, or possibly even longer. Like a probe sent to Alpha Centauri perhaps, with Solar Radiometers on the probe to both activate the probe as it nears the Solar system its aimed towards, and recharge the clockwork mechanism like a giant self rewinding watch that never stops running. The electronics would have to be powered like a clockwork radio, negating the need for batteries or Nuclear power, which will degrade over extremely long periods. This is the issue with the voyager probes as they age, despite the fact that the electronics and computers within the probe are functioning perfectly after nearly half a century of constant use. The probe would have to be large and capable of making independent decisions, which may require a large amount of older hardier computer chips. You could even go a step further, and have small landers on the larger probe that could be fired and directed towards other planets. They could be hardy probes, with a self contained non rechargeable clockwork power source of their own. Preferably a hardy probe to gather planetary data quickly, similar to the Venetian and Titan probes of the past. The only issue would be having a secondary rechargeable clockwork mechanism to power the transmitter, which would have to be very powerful for the extremely long distances to earth. Storage of information until broadcast would be vital. If Spacex can reduce the cost of launches further, perhaps we could have a mother ship probe that could launch smaller satellites like a Clockwork Cassinis, to examine planetary systems and their moons, as well as launch the aforementioned smaller probes This is a bit long winded and hypothetical but its worth thinking about…

Awesome

Can you imagine if the gravitational influence of a probe impact/orbit/landing accidentally encouraged Bennu into a collision course? Sounds like a good movie.

Have to make sure a small town doesn't find and open it.... It has "Andromeda Strain" Vibes... Excellent video

Hey Simon

1:25 look to the skies 4:48 fantastic voyager 8:53 rock in space 11:42 a magical mystery tour 15:00 the long way home

Dude! this gives me an idea for a heist movie! Picture this. A group of enthusiastic profiteers plots to snag the sample container before NASA gets it and hold it ransom. There's a guy on the inside who causes a computer error at just the right time to send the package hundreds of miles off course. Then it becomes a race across the desert between out fun loving criminals and NASA to reach the probe first. Actually, this would fit right into the Fast and the Furious franchise. Oh and you need a reason you can't use helicopters soooo... Sand storm maybe? Whatever, make a good popcorn movie.

the most detailed mapping of anything in space. humanity witnesses bennu in jaw dropping nSD resolution (nano shaq deffenition with dolby 5.1 surround sound).

“Osiris”-Rex. Naming adoptions like this is is inevitably going to lead to some creative literature from Zechariah Sitchins the LXXVIII… in about 5000 years. Though it is a good name, and the meaning/homage behind it is touching.

The fact that I found the idea of Americans abandoning the Imperial system in 200 years and weighing things in Shaq's, and the fact that I can see this happening in a weird timeline, funny as hell, proves spending 2 years in my house with nothing but unregulated online access maybe wasn't as good to my sense of humor then I thought. . .

I love your dry humor.

Bro... that beard oil is doing its job. Your chin helmet looks epic AF, Simon.

The problem?? You mean "the probe", no doubt. Apart from that, great video!

I did not know about this mission.

who else watch this post 25th September 2023, right after the sample of Bennu safely arrived at UTAH?

Serious question, I think this will really help me understand things better...Does anyone know what the conversion is between the unit of mass known as the Shaq and the unit of mass known as a Blue Whale Unit (or BWU for short, i.e. the mass of an average blue whale)? I'm kinda stumped by the use of Shaq rather than BWUs, so any help would be much appreciated! Edit: for clarification, I'm not referring to the similarly named Blue Whale Unit used in whaling regulations. That unit is utterly unintelligible to me. I'm referring specifically to the Blue Whale Unit described as the average mass of a blue whale, I believe it converts to about 220,000 pounds (assuming 1g gravity, of course).

I desperately want asteroid mining to get going so that we can get golden bullets normalized. For context, lead is used in bullets because it's soft which allows it to be engaged by rifling without damaging the barrel while at the same time being heavy which allows it to retain and deliver the maximum amount of kinetic energy to the target. ...you know what else is extremely heavy but also soft? 24 carat gold...

I'm starting to think these scientists go through a course in acronyms.

God, I forgot about Apophis. I remember in the early and mid 2000's, they treated that thing like Satan. Granted, it was rightfully so. It's currently the only object to have ever been given a rating of level 4 on the Torino scale.

I wonder, is there going be a review for the mq9 reaper as well as the mq4 global hawk?

I mean depending on how far you want to stretch the meaning of the word "life" those little organic chemicals that may have been deposited could be considered ancient aliens lmfao

Other than volume, how are Bennu/Osiris samples expected to compare with those retrieved from Ryugu & returned by Hayabusa2?

What time is a good goal to set for myself when running 745.76 shaqs?

Astroid destroying technology.... I'm getting Ace Combat vibes.

Turns out the force of the probe contacting the asteroid ends up putting it on course for certain collision with Earth. “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”

I like the way he pronounces NASA

Hopefully we’ll have a presence in space (or perhaps even the Moon), to make it easier to deal with Way Too Near Earth Objects by the time Bennu swings by.

I can't wait for a space elevator and orbital platforms and such, to make missions like these cheaper and easier to just keep going and going since they can be continually resupplied easily. And as I understand, the engineering and design of space elevators is getting to the point where we think we can build one in under 10 years

Scott Manley made a video called What Would Happen If Asteroid Bennu Hit Earth. Even "just rubble" would be a problem...

"Osiris, what has happened to your nose?" "I've just returned from Rome."

I wonder if they ever thought of designing the probe and mission so the sample cannister could be replaced and the probe refuelled by any of the two (?) space stations we humans have in orbit.

In the end, it all boils down to poking it with a stick.

How aboot a video here or SideProjects on the various engines probes and such use on interplanetary flights. Or, a Science of Science Fiction on ion drives and various other sublight propultion used in SciFi/SciFan.

1 in 2700 sounds pretty bad to me!!

If it only comes close in 2170 or later, it is IMO quite likely that it will be snagged and dragged off to a smelter or refinery well before it becomes a hazard to planets and astrogation.

I have seen that movie Life. Do we really want that sample landing on earth?

Ok!

Fortunately Bennu is a loose conglomerate and not a solid rock. So as it nears earth gravity it will break apart and rain down much smaller objects that won't do any real damage. No ELE from Bennu.

The accrual of the expenses over that many years, makes this a very cheap project, and it's a science grinding machine, that was expensive to do one thing but almost a decade later it will casually do more science essentially for free

👏Simon! Hey- I remember ( when Dinosaurs roamed the Earth) a few decades ago- Magazines like POPULAR SCIENCE & POPULAR SCIENCE, etc.. - Showcased BACK THEN of; UN-Manned, Computer & Automated MACHINES to go INTO Space: Mine/ Fabricate/ Build Simple Platforms for Space people to Vacation on! That, and 1969 “ Self Driving Cars “!! 👴🏼NoBody.

if the sample comes back I can already the the Nemo seagulls (the scientists) looking over it on the desert floor with very troubling looks of longing and the sample being very worried about its future

"Lonely planetary scientists..." Ouch! 🪐👨‍🔬

as an American i apperiate the Shaq measuremnt thanks for the clarification

I absolutely agree. I think the DOJ has gone too easy on most of these people. Some of these people that got a month to months in jail should have been sentenced to years in jail.

I saw this launched; it'll be a little sad once it returns.

looks a bit like a cicada.

enters earth the same day as ksp2 releases

To put Apophis into context... it is 133.35 Shaq's across.

I think you missed an opportunity to compare Bennus gravity to Shaqs... :D

Why does this sound like the beginning of Andromeda Strain????

Using Shaq as a measurement system is hilarious. Forget about freedom units. Lol.

Saving us from a planet killer; That's more sexy than just about anything.

Ya know... we've got this huge space station still in orbit that it would be a lot easier to transfer samples to rather than risking the sample on reentry.

If Bennu is just a pile of gravel, how would that affect its collision with Earth? Instead of one big bang would we get a whole maird load of small bangs that would add up to one big bang?

Savior, Destroyer. Potato, potato.

Dumb question, if Bennu is SO loosely held together, even if it does impact Earth, wouldn't it just be shredded by Earth's gravity and then the fragments merely burn up in the atmosphere?

So..... It's a big scary.... dust bunny.