NASA is sending a spacecraft to Bennu, an asteroid, for sample collection.
Touchstone / Via moviesfca.tumblr.com
Not unlike the movie Armageddon — except they're leaving a time capsule, and they want your tweets and photos.
The craft is called OSIRIS-REx, as shown in the artist's rendition below, and it will launch in 2016 and land three years later.
NASA/Goddard / Via nasa.gov
That's short for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer. (Bless you.)
BUT THERE IS A CATCH.
NBC / Via parksandrecreation.wikia.com
The tweets or pictures have to be about Solar System exploration – "today and predictions for the next decade."
Specifically:
○ Think about what we are doing in Solar System exploration in 2014 and what we might be doing in 2023
○ Tweet your statement with hashtag #AsteroidMission or
○ Tag OSIRIS-REx on Instagram with hashtag #AsteroidMission to share your ideas as a graphic or photo.
Posts can be about science, engineering, technology or other subjects related to space exploration today and in 2023.
So you can put your "moon"-ing photos away.
Fox / Via giphy.com
Pending the mission goes off without a hitch, the craft will return in 2023. The team will pick 50 tweets and 50 pictures to go inside, which will later be posted online.
