On December 10th 2018, NASA announced that its spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx has discovered water on the asteroid, Bennu. OSIRIS-REx, which was launched two years ago, arrived at its destination, on December 3rd, after a 1.2 billion mile journey. The spacecraft is within twelve miles of the asteroid's surface. The presence of water was detected by OSIRIS-REx's two on board spectrometers, OVIRS and OTES.
OSIRIS-REx which stands for, Origins, Spectral Interpretations, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, is expected to slip into orbit around Bennu on December 31st 2018. The spacecraft's mission is to to grab a sizable sample of the asteroid and return it to Earth. After achieving an orbit of about one mile above the asteroid's surface, OSIRIS-REx is expected, at some point, to swoop down and tap Bennu.
At that point, the spacecraft will use its Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), to suck up a two once sample of material. That maneuver, which will not be an actual landing, is expected to last only about 5 seconds. OSIRIS-REx is then expected to stay in orbit around Bennu until 2021, before beginning its journey home. The spacecraft will bring its payload back to Earth, landing in a Utah desert in September 2023.
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