NASA Mission About To Capture Dust From Another World

OSIRIS-REx is ready to get the goods.

On 20 October, after several years of patient study of its enigmatic target, NASA’s $800 million spacecraft will finally stretch out its robotic arm, swoop to the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, and sweep up some dust and pebbles.

The encounter, 334 million kilometers from Earth, will last about 10 seconds.