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About

D. S. Lauretta is a leading planetary scientist and the principal investigator of NASA’s groundbreaking OSIRIS-REx mission, which successfully returned samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. His research centers on the origin and evolution of the solar system, with a focus on asteroid thermophysics, organic chemistry, and sample-return mission design. Lauretta’s work on Bennu’s thermal infrared observations and thermophysical characterization (133 citations) provided critical data for mission planning, while his photometric models (25 citations) refined our understanding of the asteroid’s surface properties. He also contributed to OSIRIS-REx flight dynamics and navigation design (88 citations), enabling the mission’s precise sample collection. Beyond mission engineering, Lauretta investigates the thermal alteration of labile elements in carbonaceous chondrites (19 citations), linking meteorite studies to asteroid composition. His leadership of OSIRIS-REx—the first U.S. mission to return asteroid samples—has profoundly advanced planetary science, and his work continues to shape our understanding of solar system formation and the origins of life’s building blocks.