Posted on December 4, 2018
One of my photographs is stored on a microchip on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that just reached the asteroïd Bennu. Above, a photograph taken on November 16, 2018, from a distance of 85 miles (136 km).
A 7 years journey, the goal is to map the asteroïd’s surface and collect samples to be sent back to Earth. Bennu, a potentially hazardous object, could hit our planet next century. After mission completion, the spacecraft and artwork will remain in space for millennia on a stable orbit around the Sun.
CREDITS & INFORMATIONS
NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
Coffin and corn mummy with Osiris mask (MET Museum)
Eva Wollenberg, the sky ”hand stencil” artwork stored aboard
OSIRIS-REx | Video of the launch | Osiris | Bennu