OSIRIS-REx Mission Concludes: Years of Asteroid Science Lie Ahead
NASA has formally concluded the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer) mission, with officials marking the end of operations on September 30, 2026. The spacecraft, which spent seven years in space, made history by delivering pristine samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to Earth in September 2023.
The mission achieved its primary objective of collecting and returning at least 60 grams of material from Bennu's surface—a feat accomplished through a dramatic touch-and-go maneuver in 2020. Analysis of the returned samples has already yielded insights into the composition and history of the asteroid, with researchers expecting decades of scientific discovery ahead.
The OSIRIS-REx team expressed pride in the accomplishment, with officials stating they are immensely proud of what the mission achieved. While the spacecraft itself has reached the end of its operational life, the scientific work is far from over—curators at NASA's Johnson Space Center continue to process and distribute samples to researchers worldwide, ensuring the mission's legacy extends well beyond its active phase.