#015: OSIRIS REx Mission - Heather Enos

Biosphere 2 Podcast

In September of 2016, a NASA spacecraft known as OSIRIS REx began its journey to the near Earth asteroid Bennu, an ancient asteroid believed to be a remnant from the dawn of the solar system. Late last year, OSIRIS REx successfully collected and stored a surface sample from Bennu completing one more of several successful mission objectives on its journey. In this episode we are joined by Heather Enos, the Deputy Principal Investigator for the OSIRIS REx mission. Heather Enos has a long history in project management with University of Arizona space missions. Before OSIRIS REx, she was previously Project Manager for the 2001 Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer team as well as the Project Manager for the 2007 Phoenix Thermal Evolve Gas Analyzer. In this discussion Heather speaks to some of the OSIRIS REx missions greatest challenges and how her team adapted and responded on the fly. Heather talks about why her science team is interested in Bennu and we get first hand insight into what it takes to lead large interdisciplinary teams on NASA Missions. Before listening to this talk, I encourage you to follow some of the links in the description, particularly the video of the OSIRIS REx Tagsam sample collection. And now, here is Heather Enos. https://www.asteroidmission.org/galleries/