We will be at the Roper Mountain Science Center for this meeting!

OSIRIS-REx Returned a Piece of the Early Solar System

NASA’s robotic Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security - Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission seeks answers to the questions that are central to the human experience: Where did we come from? What is our destiny? Asteroids, the leftover debris from the solar system formation process, can address these questions and teach us about the history of the solar system.

OSIRIS-REx launched in September 2016, arrived at carbonaceous B-type near-Earth asteroid Bennu in December 2018, studied the asteroid then collected >120g of surface rocks in October 2020, and delivered it to Earth in September 2023 where the international science team began to study them. These samples are now available for investigations, they provide a pristine record of the chemical processes that occurred in the early solar system prior to the origin of life.

Jason P Dworkin's Bio, Senior Scientist @ NASA

Jason Dworkin's (he/him) objective is to assess the organic species available for the origin and early evolution of life with a focus is on understanding the extraterrestrial input and origin of molecules relevant for life. This objective has been to study increasingly documented and constrained systems, from plausibly early Earth chemistry, chemistry of astrophysically relevant laboratory ices, organic and chiral analysis of meteorites, to analysis of sample returned material and how to protect that material from contamination. This research employs modern analytical methods to examine authentic samples of the early solar system as well as laboratory models of ancient environments. This involves both directing research in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and scientific leadership in NASA sample return and in situ missions.