The mineralogy and petrology of samples returned from asteroid Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx Mission

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission delivered 121.6 g of material from carbonaceous asteroid Bennu to Earth on September 24, 2023. The canister containing the sample was transported to NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) for disassembly and curation on September 25, 2023. The canister was opened at JSC, and the avionics deck and the outside of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) were found to be coated in fine-grained dust from the sampling maneuver at Bennu. Shortly after the opening of the canister, a group of science team members assembled at JSC to analyze this material. The purposes of this quick-look analysis were to inform the public, perform preliminary investigation of the returned material for science purposes, and help guide sample selection. In the subsequent weeks, additional material was allocated to team members around the world for measurements of its mineralogy, elemental and isotopic composition, spectral characteristics, physical properties, and organic composition. In my talk, I will provide an overview of the mission, the sample analysis plan, what we have learned thus far about the mineralogic makeup of the sample, and its implications for the origins of asteroid Bennu.