OSIRIS-REx

Mission overview

OSIRIS-REx collected a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and returned it to Earth in 2023.

Mission data

Identity and engineering data from Wikidata (type-verified match · Q604428) · launch date 2016-09-08 confirmed

Sourced from Wikidata (community-maintained structured data, whose statements link to their own citations where provided); each value carries its Wikidata QID. A field with conflicting Wikidata values is omitted. Launch date is used only to cross-check the catalogue, never to override it. Fields Wikidata did not provide, or where conflicting values exist, are omitted, never invented.

Primary-source verification

Committed mission facts cross-checked against the official NASA primary source — NASA Science — OSIRIS-REx.

Verified by corroboration against the official agency document: a launch date is “Confirmed by primary” only when the page literally states it; a launch mass only when the page states a figure equal to it within catalogue rounding (±0.5%). Source precedence is primary agency > peer-reviewed > official mission page > structured secondary > Wikidata; a primary source outranks Wikidata but no engineering value is transcribed from the page — an uncorroborated value is kept as its original (secondary) source, never re-labelled primary. Checked 2026-07-12.

Outcome & discoveries

Delivered the largest asteroid sample yet returned, rich in carbon and water-bearing minerals.

• ★Largest returned asteroid sample, containing carbon and hydrated minerals

Mission profile

Knowledge connections

• Operated byNASA
• Part of programNew Frontiers program
• Launched byAtlas V
• Launched fromCape Canaveral Space Force Station
• Mission target101955 Bennu
• Visited101955 Bennu
• Returned samples from101955 Bennu
• Member of groupSample-Return Mission
• Member of groupRendezvous Mission
• Member of groupOrbiter Mission
• Orbited101955 Bennu
• Collected sampleBennu Sample (OSIRIS-REx)
• Mission includesOSIRIS-REx Sample-Return Capsule
• Associated withApproach & Characterization
• Tracked byDeep Space Network (DSN)
• Carries instrumentOCAMS (OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite)
• Associated withOSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 Sample Asteroids

Related missions

Sources

The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.

• NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.

  Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.