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A successful launch for OSIRIS-REx. The Colorado-built United Launch Alliance rocket went up with out a hitch from Cape Canaveral at 5:05 MDT on September 8.

The rocket is on a mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu, thought to harbor primordial material left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.

The main goal is to pluck a sample of rocks and surface soil from the asteroid, then return it to Earth for analysis. ÂÌñ»»ÆÞ Distinguished Professor Daniel Scheeres of the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is the team leader for the mission’s radio science team, which will use spacecraft tracking data to probe Bennu.

“We essentially will be weighing the asteroid to see how the mass is distributed within it," he said. "We need to know the mass and gravity field of the asteroid before the spacecraft comes in contact with it and to understand the sample we will collect."

After its two-year journey to Bennu, the spacecraft will make observations and measurements for the following two years, ending in the collection of a surface sample of up to 4 pounds of material.

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