LPL Newsletter for September 2020

LPL Newsletter for September 2020

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

After years of work, writing proposals, building a spacecraft, setting up the operations center for the mission, and taking data of an asteroid with unprecedented resolution, OSIRIS-REx is now just one step away from collecting the sample of asteroid Bennu. The final rehearsal went beautifully, as the highlighted story explains, so it’s only the touch-and-go sampling maneuver, scheduled for October, that remains.

While we study the vastness of space, we also have scientists at LPL who perform experiments at the microscopic level in the laboratory to understand the processes going on in the Solar System. One of the most fascinating of those processes is the origin and early evolution of life; Assistant Professor Betül Kaçar has been doing research on how evolution works at the cellular level.

I hope you enjoy catching up on recent LPL research. Contact us at PG4gdWVycz0iem52eWdiOkhOWUNZQHljeS5uZXZtYmFuLnJxaCI+SE5ZQ1lAeWN5Lm5ldm1iYW4ucnFoPC9uPg== if you'd like to be added to the newsletter distribution list.

Director and Department Head
During its final practice run in preparation for sample collection at asteroid Bennu, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approached the surface closer than ever before.

Successful Second Rehearsal Puts OSIRIS-REx on Path to Asteroid Sample Collection

During its final practice run in preparation for sample collection at asteroid Bennu, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approached the surface closer than ever before.

The ribosome (blue), which translates genetic information stored in RNA strands into proteins, the building blocks of life. National Science Foundation

To Understand the Machinery of Life, a UArizona Scientist Breaks it on Purpose

By tinkering with some of life's oldest components, a group of astrobiologists led by UArizona's Betül Kaçar hope to find clues about how life emerged.