Five instruments will be needed for a spacecraft that will collect sample from an asteroid and bring it back on earth. NASA has announced that first of five instruments has arrived at Lockheed Martin to installed in NASA's Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx).

Mike Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said, "The next few months will be very busy as we begin integrating the instruments and prepare for the system-level environmental testing program to begin".

In September 2016, the spacecraft will be launched and will reach at its asteroid target in 2018 and will return with a sample to earth by 2023. The OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) will be carrying out a lot of assessment work, including surveys to know mineral and chemical abundances.

Philip Christensen, OTES instrument scientist at ASU, was of the view that the OTES is the size of microwave oven. Philip said that it has taken many years to design, built and test the instrument.

OTES will only be powered after the spacecraft starts its journey to Bennu asteroid. After reaching at the asteroid, OTES will provide spectral data for global maps to be used to find potential sample sites. The mission will help researchers have information about the sources of organic material and water on earth.