From Solo Cup to an asteroid: NASA's newest space mission

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The idea for a device that could unveil the origins of life in our solar system began with a Solo cup.

Next month, an invention inspired by that plastic, disposable beverage cup will launch into space aboard the United States' first robotic mission aimed at scooping up 4.5 billion-year-old dust from an asteroid. The $800 million NASA mission is called OSIRIS-REx, which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer. The unmanned spacecraft will travel to an asteroid near Earth called Bennu to collect space dust that may reveal how the materials necessary for life—such as carbon and ice—made their way to our planet.
"We seek samples that date back to the very dawn of our solar system," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator with the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Launching September 8 atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the 4,600 pound (2,087 kilogram) sport utility vehicle-sized spaceship is set to embark on a multiyear mission, returning its bounty of space dirt in 2023.