Analysing Asteroids: from Bennu back to Base

Professor Dante Lauretta 

Professor Dante Lauretta is a Regents Professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Principal Investigator on OSIRIS-Rex. He is an expert in near-Earth asteroid formation and evolution.    

He is the leader of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission and maintains an active research program in Cosmochemistry and Meteoritics. OSIRIS-REx is the US' premier mission to visit one of the most potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids , survey it to assess its impact hazard and resource potential, understand its physical and chemical properties and return a sample of this body to Earth for detailed scientific analysis.    

The spacecraft launched in September 2016 and began its journey to Bennu - a carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft rendezvoused with Bennu in 2018 and successfully obtained a sample in October 2020. On 10 May 2021, the spacecraft finally embarked on its return voyage to Earth, with the sample return expected to happen in late 2023.  

Professor Chris Lintott   

Professor Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and presenter of the BBC’s long-running Sky at Night programme. His own research includes studying interstellar asteroids and understanding galaxies. He also invites the public to participate in scientific research via the citizen science platform Zooniverse.org. He co-authored the book Bang!! A History of the Universe with Brian May and astronomers Patrick Moore and Hannah Wakeford.

Sir Brian May  

Sir Brian May , CBE, PhD, FRAS is a founding member of the band Queen, a world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer, as well as a Doctor of Astrophysics, an authority on 3D stereoscopic photographic and a passionate advocate and campaigner for animal rights.   

An accomplished Astronomy student, Brian’s PhD studies were stalled when a musical career superseded. The following four decades have seen Queen amass a staggering list of sales and awards with a catalogue that consistently tops popularity polls and sees Queen remain the most successful albums act in UK chart history. Brian has penned 22 Queen top 20 hits, among them the powerful ballads Who Wants to Live Forever, No-One But You and Save Me, along with anthems The Show Must Go On, I Want It All and We Will Rock You.    

He retains his keen passion for Astronomy and after a 30-year break returned to Astrophysics to update his doctoral thesis on the Motions of Interplanetary Dust, achieving his PhD from Imperial College, London, in 2007.  

Professor Sara Russell  

Professor Sara Russell is a Merit Researcher in Cosmic Mineralogy and Planetary Sciences at the Natural History Museum. Her team are interested in the formation of the solar system and the formation and evolution of the moons of the terrestrial planets. The group currently works on topics such as the origin of water in the solar system, transport within the early protoplanetary disk and geological processes in asteroids, using the Museum’s Meteorite Collection as the bedrock for their research.    

Sara is a Science Team Member of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, a member of the JAXA's Hayabusa2 Analysis Team and an ESA representative on the International Science Board of JAXA's MMX mission. She edited the book Chondrules and the Protoplanetary Disk published by Cambridge University Press and is the proud namesake of Asteroid 5497 Sararussell.