{"id":2052,"date":"2013-05-01T16:41:56","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T16:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2052"},"modified":"2013-05-01T16:41:56","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T16:41:56","slug":"nine-year-old-wins-contest-to-name-osiris-rex-target-asteroid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2052","title":{"rendered":"Nine year old wins contest to name OSIRIS-REx target asteroid"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission<\/a> will take off in 2016 on a mission to visit the near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid (101955<\/a>) . It will grab a sample of the object and bring it back to earth for analysis.<\/p>\n

The name 101955 is, to say the least, a bit boring. So\u00a0the University of Arizona (home of the OSIRIS-REx mission lead team), The Planetary Society<\/a> and MIT Lincoln Laboratory (the home institution of the discoverers of the asteroid) sponsored a contest to give it a new name.<\/p>\n

Today it was announced that the name Bennu was selected. It was proposed by Mike Puzio, age 9, of North Carolina. He said<\/a><\/p>\n

that the large heron-like Touch-and-Go Sample Mechanism (TAGSAM) arm and winged OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made him think of Bennu. Puzio stated, \u201cThe winged OSIRIS-REx and its heron-like TAGSAM evoke attributes of Bennu, as does the egg shape of the asteroid itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennu was an important avian deity in ancient Egypt and one of the symbols of the god Osiris. Egyptians usually depicted Bennu as a gray heron. The double nature of asteroids delivering life\u2019s molecules and sometimes bringing destruction such as the recent fall in Chelyabinsk, Russia, inspired the mission name, OSIRIS-REx, and now the asteroid\u2019s name.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More here:<\/p>\n