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Credit & Copyright: United Launch Alliance,
NASA
Explanation:
Have you ever seen a rocket launched into the Solar System?
Last month a large Atlas
V rocket
blasted off from Launch Complex 41 in
Florida
carrying the ORISIX-REx spacecraft.
This robotic spacecraft will attempt to land on
Asteroid Bennu and
return some of its soil to Earth.
Asteroid
101955 Bennu
orbits the Sun near the Earth, spans about 500-meters, is
dark because its surface is covered with carbon, and
has about a 1 in 2500 chance of
striking the Earth
in the next few thousand years.
The
exciting 2.5-minute video
shows the Atlas V rocket being
rolled
out, prepared, and launched --
complete with a clip of side-boosters separating.
If things go according to plan,
ORISIS-REx
will reach Bennu in 2018 and return samples to Earth in 2023.
One science goal of
OSIRIS-REx is to better determine
whether ancient collisions between Earth and
carbonaceous asteroids
like
Bennu
provided Earth with a significant amount of the
water
and
organic
molecules
necessary for the
development of life.
Free Download:
APOD 2017 Calendar: NASA Images
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: rocket - launch
Publications with words: rocket - launch
See also: