NASA's Asteroid Hunting Spacecraft OSIRIS-REx Launches to Space on Thursday

NASA's asteroid-hunting spacecraft will be launched to space on Thursday and despite the unfortunate SpaceX rocket explosion on the same base at Cape Canaveral in Florida, the agency is confident that the mission will be launched smoothly.

The Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) will be launched to a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu on Thursday, Sept. 8. The spacecraft is equipped with instruments that are designed to perform an extensive surface mapping of the asteroid. But one of the most important parts of the mission is the retrieval of asteroid samples that will be taken back to Earth using the robotic arm of the spacecraft.

NASA official assured that there are no problems with OSIRIS-REx after the SpaceX rocket explosion in the same launch base at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. "Our Atlas V vehicle, as well as OSIRIS-REx, are safely buttoned up and secure inside the VIF," Scott Messer, program manager for NASA missions said in a statement. "We haven't identified any damage or any concerns as a result of the incident last week," Messer added.

The launch is scheduled at exactly 7:05 pm. OSIRIS-REx shoot straight to the 500-meter wide asteroid Bennu and will reach the target by 2018. The samples collected by OSIRIS-REx will be sent back to Earth on 2023 after the mission is over. Asteroid Bennu is believed to hold 4.5 billion-year-old remnants of the early Solar System, according to a report.

Research say that asteroids are rarely changed by time thus it possesses materials that can help scientists further explain how life in the universe started. Asteroids are believed to have carbon-rich organic molecules that are said to be a building block of life.

But aside from that, the mission will also observe the potential risk of the said asteroid to Earth. Massive space rocks pose a threat to the planet since some of them have the capability to damage a part of the Earth, or even obliterate the planet upon impact. The mission will help scientists improve their calculations and predictions when it comes to asteroids flying past the planet.