The US Postal Service (USPS) dropped information of a shock space stamp on Tuesday (March 14), revealing it plans to mark the upcoming plunge of a capsule carrying the most important pattern ever collected from an asteroid.
The “OSIRIS-REx Return To Earth” postage stamp (opens in new tab), to be issued later this yr on a date nonetheless to be introduced, honors NASA’s first mission to deliver again asteroid samples for examine. The stamp depicts the robotic probe’s pattern return capsule descending underneath a parachute over the Utah desert, the place the rock and dust-filled container is scheduled to land on Sept. 24, 2023.
“With this new stamp, the U.S. Postal Service celebrates NASA’s seven-year OSIRIS-REx mission to review and map the asteroid Bennu and ship a pattern of the floor to Earth in September 2023. The pattern will assist scientists learn the way the solar system shaped,” the USPS stated in a press release (opens in new tab).
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OSIRIS-REx is an acronym, which stands for: Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Useful resource Identification and Safety Regolith Explorer. The title describes the mission’s objectives. “Origins” refers back to the examine of the pristine carbon-rich materials the spacecraft collected. “Spectral Interpretation” means measuring the composition of the asteroid. “Useful resource Identification” is assessing potential gas, oxygen, water and minerals on the asteroid and “Safety” pertains to scientists’ calculating the percentages that Bennu might collide with Earth.
The ultimate a part of the mission’s title, REx, is brief for “Regolith Explorer,” referring to the examine of the layer of free materials on the asteroid’s floor.
Launched from Cape Canaveral (opens in new tab) on Sept. 8, 2016, the van-sized OSIRIS-REx spacecraft orbited the sun for a yr till it handed by Earth once more. At that time, it used the planet’s gravity to assist propel it towards Bennu, which orbits the sun however at a distinct angle than Earth.
OSIRIS-REx entered orbit across the 1,610-foot-wide (490 meters) asteroid in December 2018 and started photographing and mapping its floor to find out the perfect website from which to gather samples. Scientists had been shocked to study, from the photographs that the spacecraft despatched again, that the asteroid’s floor was a lot totally different from what that they had anticipated. As a substitute of being comparatively clean, it was rocky and cratered, so discovering a pattern assortment website posed a problem. Finally, a website situated in a crater concerning the dimension of a tennis court docket was chosen.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft didn’t really land on Bennu, however as an alternative slowly descended toward its surface and extended a robotic arm (opens in new tab). A group gadget on the hand-end of the arm launched a puff of nitrogen gasoline that despatched up a cloud of dust and rocks from the rocky physique’s floor. Greater than two ounces of those supplies had been captured in a special container (opens in new tab) within the assortment gadget, which then closed and retracted into the spacecraft.
Although just some ounces may seem to be a small quantity, it’s the largest pattern ever collected from an asteroid and the primary asteroid pattern collected by the USA. Japan beforehand returned asteroid materials on its Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 (opens in new tab) missions.
OSIRIS-REx started its flight again to Earth on Might 10, 2021. When it nears the planet this fall, the pattern return capsule will separate from the bigger spacecraft to plunge to the floor. The container and return methodology are just like what was utilized by NASA’s Stardust mission to land materials from a comet in 2006.
“OSIRIS-REx — a collaboration between NASA, the College of Arizona and Lockheed Martin — exemplifies American ingenuity, perseverance and teamwork,” the USPS stated.
The “OSIRIS-REx Return to Earth” postage stamp shall be issued in a pane of 20 Perpetually stamps. Perpetually stamps stay equal in worth to the present First-Class Mail 1 ounce worth.
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