2023 McKay Awardee - Zoë Wilbur Nov. 3, 2023 Zoë Wilbur is a fifth-year planetary sciences graduate student who studies cosmochemistry. Read more Image
OSIRIS-REx Flies on as OSIRIS-APEX to Explore a Second Asteroid Oct. 31, 2023 NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission learned much about the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu and its risk to Earth. Now, the mission will change hands and target a different kind of potentially hazardous asteroid, Apophis. Read more Image
UArizona Launches Arizona Astrobiology Center to Unlock the Mysteries of Life in the Universe Oct. 17, 2023 The center will bring together students and faculty from across campus and disciplines to unravel the enigma of life's beginnings and our place in the cosmos. Read more Image
First Look at Bennu Sample Reveals Carbon and Water Oct. 11, 2023 NASA's University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission has returned a sample that scientists will study for decades to learn more about the formation of the solar system. Read more Image
A Gift from Space: UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx Mission Delivers Largest-ever Asteroid Sample to Earth Sept. 24, 2023 The delivery from the asteroid Bennu, seven years after the spacecraft launched, marks the end of the space-voyaging phase of the mission. Scientists will now study the rocks and dust to better understand the origins of life on Earth. Read more Image
OSIRIS-REx's Successful Sample Delivery Marks the Start of Extended OSIRIS-APEX Mission Sept. 24, 2023 After dropping off its historic sample from asteroid Bennu, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is headed to its next target: another potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid, called Apophis. Read more Image
OSIRIS-REx Team Completes Final Test Before Asteroid Sample Delivery Sept. 1, 2023 The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will deliver a sample from asteroid Bennu to scientists waiting in the Utah desert on Sept. 24. Read more Image
Asteroid Sample Delivery to Launch Decades of Science Aug. 28, 2023 A University of Arizona-led NASA mission nearly 20 years in the making is finally reaching its end, but the scientific investigation is only beginning. Read more Image
Two LPL Researchers Will Get First Crack at Asteroid Samples July 29, 2023 When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivers its precious asteroid samples to Earth on Sept. 24, Pierre Haenecour and Tom Zega will be among the first to examine the scientific treasure trove. Read more Image
Pass the Salt: This Space Rock Holds Clues as to How Earth Got Its Water June 13, 2023 The discovery of tiny salt grains in an asteroid sample brought to Earth by the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft provides strong evidence that liquid water may be more common in the solar system's largest asteroid population than previously thought. Read more Image