JROMC is pleased to announce our upcoming annual free memorial lecture. The 53rd J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Lecture will feature Professor Dante Lauretta, on Monday, June 22, 2026 beginning at 7:00 pm at Duane Smith Auditorium, Los Alamos, NM.
Title:
The NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission
Abstract:
TBD
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Dante S. Lauretta is a Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona and Principal Investigator of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. Under his leadership, OSIRIS-REx successfully collected and returned pristine material from the near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2023, an achievement widely recognized as one of the most significant milestones in modern planetary exploration.
The mission’s scientific and technical success has been honored with some of the highest awards in aerospace and space science. In 2024, the OSIRIS-REx team received the Collier Trophy, awarded by the National Aeronautic Association for the greatest achievement in American aeronautics or astronautics. That same year, the mission was recognized with the Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, the Neil Armstrong Space Flight Achievement Award from the American Astronautical Society, and the Goddard Memorial Trophy from the National Space Club. In 2025, the mission’s science results were named one of Physics World’s Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year, highlighting the transformative scientific insights enabled by the returned samples.
Through OSIRIS-REx, Dr. Lauretta has advanced planetary science, strengthened the scientific foundation for understanding the origins of life, and demonstrated the power of ambitious, sample-return exploration. The mission’s success stands as both a technical triumph and a scientific watershed moment in humanity’s effort to understand its cosmic beginnings.