In 2016, NASA embarked on a new and unique mission: sending the Osiris-REx spacecraft to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu to study the rocky space object and collect samples to return to researchers. PROJECT ASTEROID: MAPPING BENNU is a 30-minute film that documents the construction of one of the critical instruments on board the spacecraft: the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES), the first space instrument to be built entirely on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus. The documentary, in the making since 2012, takes viewers behind-the-scenes as it follows the efforts of a team of engineers, veteran professors, current and former students, and scientists led by the ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration's project manager Philip Christenen. PROJECT ASTEROID follows the OTES team as they count down to the mission launch date, and profiles selected team members who give their personal perspectives on the challenges and rewards of this high-stakes undertaking.
