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The John Batchelor Show

The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System Hardcover – March 19, 2024 by Dante Lauretta (Author) Title: Genesis of a Galactic Pursuit Author: Dante Lauretta Title: OSIRIS-REx: Defining the Mission Author: Dante Lauretta

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Books, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System Hardcover – March 19, 2024 by  Dante Lauretta  (Author)
Title: Genesis of a Galactic Pursuit Author: Dante Lauretta
Title: OSIRIS-REx: Defining the Mission Author: Dante Lauretta

Following two rejections, Dante Lauretta was tasked by Mike Drake to define the scientific objectives for a new asteroid sample return mission. Lauretta developed the acronym OSIRIS-REx, standing for Origins (astrobiology), Spectral Interpretation (astronomers' surveys), Resource Identification (resource utilization), Security (planetary defense), and Regolith Explorer. This name reflects diverse interests, from the seeds of life on Earth to asteroid impact hazard mitigation. The mission, now with a larger budget under the New Frontiers program, was selected by NASA on May 25, 2011. During this time, a gravely ill Mike Drake designated Dante as the mission's "risk mitigation," entrusting him with its leadership.
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0:00.0

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0:29.5

I'm John Datchel with Dante Loretta. The professor is the author of a new book,

0:35.0

The Asteroid Hunter, a scientist journey to the dawn of our solar system. It's autobiographical. It's extremely helpful to understand the steps that NASA requires

0:39.4

for a successful mission. Even a mission that is only partially successful has to go through all

0:44.1

these steps. Two rejections. And now Mike Drake in the lead, and it's important to say

0:50.2

Mike's job was management. There's science, there's engineering, there's cost, there's management.

0:56.7

And Mike is a terrific manager and leaves Dante at the time for the science and to put together

1:03.7

the science team. You put together after that December 2007 gut punch, I guess this is a shot to the head, you put together yet

1:13.1

another program going forward and you've come up with a wonderful name. How did you do that?

1:20.5

When Mike brought me on, that was the direction that he gave me. He said, Dante, go define the

1:25.7

scientific objectives for an asteroid sample return mission. So I went home that night. He said, Dante, go define the scientific objectives for an asteroid sample

1:28.2

return mission. So I went home that night and I started thinking about the different

1:32.8

communities that are interested in asteroids. And I started with the group that I'm most

1:38.1

familiar with, the cosmochemists and the astrobiologists that are looking for signs of the seeds of life.

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