OSIRIS-REx’s pattern assortment success continues to be paying off. The NASA spacecraft briefly touched the floor of the asteroid Bennu in 2020, gathering a pattern of floor regolith that it returned to Earth in 2023. Since then, evaluation of these samples has discovered a number of key substances that might assist us perceive the function asteroids performed in delivering the constructing blocks of life to Earth. This week on Planetary Radio, hear from Scott Sandford, co-investigator on OSIRIS-REx and a analysis scientist at NASA’s Ames Analysis Heart, about what we’ve discovered from this pattern return success story. Pictured: Rocks fly off asteroid Bennu after NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touched the floor to gather a pattern in 2020. Picture credit score: NASA/Goddard/College of Arizona.
Meet up with The Planetary Society’s E-book Membership. This week, Society members joined NASA astronaut Nicole Stott in our digital guide membership to debate Samantha Harvey’s novel “Orbital.” You possibly can watch a recording of the occasion right here. In March, guide membership members can be studying “The Secret Lifetime of the Universe” by Nathalie Cabrol, a number one astrobiologist and director of the Carl Sagan Heart on the SETI Institute. This guide explores how life started on Earth and the way this can assist us uncover what’s wanted for all times’s existence elsewhere. The guide membership is unique to Planetary Society members. Not but a member? Be part of right now.
Have a good time with us on the Cosmic Shores Gala! On April 5, 2025, Planetary Society members and particular friends will board the historic RMS Queen Mary, docked in California’s Lengthy Seaside Harbor, for a gala occasion celebrating our forty fifth anniversary. The Cosmic Shores Gala will characteristic a keynote handle and dialogue panel, a reception with a silent public sale, dinner, and an awards presentation emceed by Robert Picardo with our CEO Invoice Nye. Be taught extra and purchase your tickets right now.
