How NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe survived its first close encounter with the sun

an animation of a cube-shaped spacecraft with two rectangular wing-like solar panels passing in front of the sun

OSIRIS-APEX emerged “unscathed” from its closest brush ever with our sun on January 2, scientists announced on Tuesday (May 28). The probe, originally known as OSIRIS-RExcompleted its sample return mission to asteroid Bennu and is now heading for the space rock Apophis on an extended mission. This new mission calls for OSIRIS-APEX to slide 25 … Read more