News of the World

Brian and Bennu!
Mon, Sep 25th, 2023

Touchdown!  As first ever sample of Bennu - believed to be the most hazardous asteroid in the universe – has landed  in the Utah desert, Brian May says,  
 
 "Today is the day - the long awaited day - when the sample of a piece of material From Bennu - the asteroid most likely to hit the Earth in the future, is recovered to Earth. This box, when it is opened, of material from the surface of Bennu can tell us untold secrets of the origins of the universe, the origins or our planet and the origins of life itself. What an incredibly exciting day. Tune into Nasa TV. Go to the OSIRIS-REx website. Read my new book for the full story  - Bennu 3-D -  written with leader of the mission, Dante Lauretta. And enjoy this wonderful forward step in our knowledge of the universe.” 
 
What many do not know, is that Brian - along with his colleague, Claudia Manzoni - played a crucial role in the OSIRIS-REx mission, creating stereoscopic images from the O-REx data that enabled leader, Professor Dante Lauretta,  and his team to locate a safe landing site for sample collection. 
 
To celebrate, Dante and Brian further collaborated to publish  - BENNU 3-D: ANATOMY OF AN ASTEROID, the only book to explore the full story of the asteroid from formation to this current mission and with stereoscopic 3-D imagery that brought the mission to success. The book comes with a 3-D viewer designed by Brian May to bring these images to life.
Available to buy from https://shop.londonstereo.com/astronomy-books.html 
 
Professor Dante Lauretta, leader of the  OSIRIS-REx mission, and author of Bennu 3-D: Anatomy of an Asteroid says – 
“The delivery of samples from asteroid Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is the culmination of almost two decades of intense effort. I am thrilled to share this adventure with the world as we enter the final stage of the mission – 
sample analysis.
 
 
Brian on the 6pm news, channel 4 Sunday - with his new book - sharing his thoughts on the phenomenal landing of the first ever sample of asteroid BENNU.....and discussing his important role in the OSIRIS-REx mission.